Who Needs Enemies With Friends Like This?
by corvusdraconis
Summary: [HG/SS] Ron and Ginny decide Hermione is monopolising Harry's time during the Triwizard Tournament, so they put their heads together with a little surprise Tom Riddle shared with Ginny back when she had his diary. EWE, NC [COMPLETE]
1. Chapter 1

**[Summary]** : [HG/SS] Ron and Ginny decide Hermione is monopolising Harry's time during the Triwizard Tournament, so they put their heads together with a little surprise Tom Riddle shared with Ginny back when she had his diary.

 **A/N:** This one is from The Dragon and the Rose

 **Beta Love:** The Dragon and the Rose, Dutchgirl01, and the Flyby Commander Shepard

 **Warning:** bad Weasleys

* * *

 **Who Needs Enemies With Friends Like This?**

 _I am a little world made cunningly_

 _Of elements, and an angelic sprite,_

 _But black sin hath betrayed to endless night_

 _My world's both parts, and oh,_

 _Both parts must die_

— _Holy Sonnet 5, by John Donne_

"Detention for you Mr Malfoy! Detention for your abuse of my lovely books!"

"But I didn't—"

" _ **DETENTION FOR DENYING IT!"**_ Pince screeched. " _ **Out! Out of my library this instant!"**_

Draco Malfoy looked like he was going to protest when he decided better of it, storming out of the library with his homework.

Meanwhile, Ginny and Ron rushed out under the cover of Draco's drama, smiling as they liberated a particular book from the shelves.

* * *

"You sure this is going to work?" Ron asked Ginny.

"Yes, Tom's diary was very clear on it. He said it was _special_. A guaranteed way to get someone who was annoying me out of my way. I just never used it," Ginny said.

Ron shrugged. "How do you know she's going to open it?"

Ginny smiled as she tapped her wand to a book, transferring the cover over.

"Hey, that's Hermione's Potions book!"

Ginny gave him a look. "You asked how we're going to get her to open it, didn't you?"

Ron blinked. "Oh, right. You sure this is going to work?"

"Of course it will work. Hermione has been spending all her time trying to get Harry ready for the next task in the tournament and he doesn't even pay any attention to us at all. With her out of the way, we can help him instead, and he'll come to realise that he doesn't really _need_ Hermione all the time." Ginny crossed her arms and scowled.

"Okay, okay I believe you. I just hope it does what you say it does," Ron said. "It's time Harry remembered who's _really_ there for him."

* * *

It was bad enough that Potter had gotten himself caught up in a binding contract with the Goblet of Fire, but someone had been stealing Polyjuice ingredients from his storeroom. On top of that, someone had also nicked some of his Gillyweed. Albus refused to let him put up more effective wards on his potions storeroom, stating that the other professors might need something from time to time. Snape tried to stress that if they _did_ happen to need something, they could simply ask for it like a normal person, but Dumbledore shooed him away and told him to please tend to the Granger witch, who'd been hit by some sort of spell from a gaggle of ardent Viktor Krum admirers who didn't particularly appreciate how he looked at someone else.

 _Really?_

Oh sure, Viktor Krum was a bonafide Quidditch star, but the pettiness of witchly affection just made his teeth itch. He did have to hand it to Krum; the boy really knew his potions and his Dark Arts, and he knew intelligence when he saw it. Instead of focusing on the hundred some swooning girls, he paid attention to Granger, who was pretty much ignored by just about everyone at Hogwarts, well, at least in any sort of _kind_ way— not that he'd been able to show her a lick of kindness thanks to restrictions imposed by his position.

As he sat down next to Granger's infirmary bed, she startled.

"Who's there?" she said, her voice squeaking.

"It is your Potions professor," Snape said, his voice a low rumble. "I'm here with your eye drops."

"Oh! Thank you, Professor Snape," she said.

She was as unfailingly polite as always, even when he didn't deserve it. And he didn't. He'd seen to that.

He gently unwrapped her eyes. "Look up, please." She did so, and he put the drops in, three for each eye.

"Thank you, that feels _much_ better, Professor," she said with a soft sigh of relief.

"The Headmaster has dismissed classes for the day so your peers may prepare for tomorrow's trial, but seeing as you missed today's class, are there any questions you have for me before I give you your assignment?" Everyone, Severus noted, was out preparing for the next day's trials, even those who weren't in the trial. It made the infirmary safe— safe enough to be civil and a bit less caustic towards the girl.

 _Less of a bastard_ , his inner voice admonished.

"Yes, Professor," she said, pulling out her Potions book. "It says in the book that Sopophorous beans should be sliced, but they are so hard to slice. If the juice is what we want, could I perhaps go about it another way? Maybe soak them in water first like you do for bean soup? Or maybe crush them with the flat of the blade?"

Severus furrowed his brows. She was looking ahead— thinking out of the box. He'd found that was an exceedingly rare quality in his students, and even more so for her to do _exactly_ what he was encouraging her to do before and think for herself instead of taking everything in the book as gospel.

"What the book doesn't tell you, Miss Granger, is that Sopophorous beans love water. So much so that you can take one bean and get a jar of juice when properly handled. Then the bean can be reused, provided more water is given after a period of rest. However, if no water is available, the bean can, as you suspected, be crushed using the flat of the silver blade. This ruins the bean for the future, however." It was odd, Severus thought, just telling her such things. Would she even realise what secrets he had just given her? Would she blab to Potter?

Hermione pet her textbook affectionately. "Thank you, Professor. Is this something you normally wouldn't share with your students?"

She was more observant than she appeared, Severus realised. He wished she was one of his snakes so he could be frank with her. She could, if properly encouraged, groomed, and taught, become a Potions Mistress the like the Wizarding World had yet to be see— in public, anyway.

"I would prefer if such knowledge remained with you alone, yes," he acknowledged.

Granger smiled, hugging her book. "I will keep it to myself, then," she said. "Thank you." Her smile was genuine, cutting through her previous aura of sadness like a ray of pure sunshine. It was so warming that he wondered what it would be like to have a friend like her, whose emotions were so plain and hungry for just the little bit of kindness— kindness he had never been allowed to give her. It was kindness that she deserved, especially after having to put up with the likes of Potter and Weasley all the time.

"Let's go over your lessons then," Snape said.

Hermione nodded, so eager to please— so painfully soaking in every little bit of attention. It made him wonder what her home life was really like. Was her family anything like his? He wouldn't wish that upon anyone. If it was, she was far more cheerful than he was back in the day.

"Turn to page three hundred and fifty-two," Snape said, remembering exactly what potion was on it: the water breathing potion. He knew she wouldn't be able to resist telling Potter about it, given there were only so many ways to deal with breathing underwater, most of which were far above their current level— not that it mattered to Hermione, as he suspected she had been pilfering from his stores as early as her second year. The difference was that she somehow managed to replace them later, having broken back in to give back what she stole— with interest. Most students would feel no remorse for stealing from his stores, but Hermione had always taken her borrowing seriously. It was why he knew that whoever was stealing from him _this_ year, it most definitely wasn't her.

The spell, he knew, was simple, even for a dunderhead like Potter who tended to think more about just how much he hated his Potions teacher than what he was being taught. They could, probably, brew it right there in the infirmary and she could totter off and give it Potter, and then he would actually have a chance at not drowning himself.

The moment she opened her book, every single hair on his head went straight up, and he hastily threw up a dampening spell, but the beam from the book hit her right between the eyes, sending her flying backward with a agonised shriek. It arched through him as he fought it back, but it writhed like a snake, thrashing and convulsing to get to its intended target.

"Miss Granger, take my hand!" Snape called over the tremendous roar of magic. If he could touch her, he could perhaps shield her more effectively. He loathed to touch others— it was intimate, too much for someone like him. He held his hand out anyway. "Take it, Miss Granger!"

The young witch was terrified and obviously in considerable pain, but she struggled to grab for his offered hand. Suddenly, she managed it. Her hand slammed into his, and he felt the jolt as all the things tearing into her now tore into him, but he drew her into his shields and screamed out the counter-curse to a hundred different curses that resembled what he felt—

Even as he felt the jolt of realisation that this was nothing like anything he had ever experienced before, he felt it— the iron choke of a chain being formed around her. He realised he may not be able to stop all of whatever was happening, but he could counter that. He knew all too well the kind of chains that powerful wizards liked to put on their chosen pets.

He hissed out a counter to the binding and the spell that conspired to take away her ability to think for herself. He would not allow another to be enslaved as he was, one to one master and one to another.

 _No!_

This witch deserved to be free— to make her own choices, good or bad. She should be able to make them herself! Even if she proved to be just as disappointing as Li— _**NO!**_

With all his might, he threw all of his magical might into setting her free— whatever happened to him didn't matter as far as he was concerned. Whatever curse she was mean to take, he would not allow it to steal away her mind— her hopeful trust in magic. She would not become like him, bitter and spiteful. He prayed it would be enough even as the agony of the curse tortured him for attempting to break its hold.

He screamed as the curse punished him, and then he realised _why_ it did. The root of the curse had twisted a form of magic far more ancient than the original caster, but the blasphemer who had was all-too-familiar. Familiar like the tainted grip of the Dark wizard who had enslaved him with the Mark—

But, even as he recognised it, he knew was cast by someone who hadn't quite developed the same rapport with Dark magic. The intent was there, but the weave was less tight, less rigid. Inexperienced.

No less dangerous, Snape knew, as inexperience often made magic even more lethal because either the caster simply didn't care or didn't have sufficient experience to know it actually _mattered_.

Knowing the man who would become the Dark Lord, however— it was never about care at all. It was about power.

But for once, Snape didn't care about himself. He cared about this young girl who had all the makings of becoming exactly like— _him_. She would become embittered, hated, misunderstood, and eventually, her will would become legion. And there would be no one to stop her— because there would be no Lily to slap her out of it. All of her innocent faith in magic would become nothing more than ash.

Snape didn't want that for her, so he did the only thing he could do. He took the brunt of the defensive counter-counter-curse, and took it into himself. And he knew, he wouldn't survive it.

So, throwing his damnation into the wind, he opened his mind, and let every memory he had imprint onto her own. She would know his weaknesses and why he could never show her a lick of kindness. She would be the only person who knew his true self.

She would survive. She would know every trick— every spell— every mistake he had ever made, ever created, ever survived, and he hoped that knowledge would not damn her too.

She would— be able to conquer the darkness while he could only be enslaved by it. That would be his gift to her, and his last, final laugh at Albus and Tom.

The Dark Mark writhed and burned him, soaking in the curse and amplifying it. The pain, he was used to. Tom had ensured that all of his Death Eaters knew what pain was by his own hand. It spewed out tendrils of pure Darkness to wrap around his neck and strangle him.

 _As you deserve._

 _Traitor._

 _Go hang out with your Death Eater friends, Sev. Get the hell out of my life._

 _I'm sorry!_

 _You're not sorry. I won't forgive you this, Severus. I'm done._

 _Lily, please!_

 _Rot here on the stairs if you must. I won't come out here again._

Despair.

 _Lily's dead and I have to look her son in the face during every class._

 _His arrogant, self-righteous father with Lily's distinctive emerald eyes set in his eye sockets._

 _Snivellus! Greasy! Greasy Snivellus!_

" _Hey guys, want to see Snivellus' pants?"_

Embarrassment.

 _The Mark being burned into his skin as he didn't even flinch— no, because he was too angry._

 _Lily married James Potter. She hugged Black— the one who attempted to murder him with a werewolf!_

Anger.

Rage.

James and Lily Potter were dead— betrayed not by him but by one of their own. One of their precious Order of the Phoenix. Who was it? Black? Pettigrew? Lupin? Which one of those insufferable men betrayed their own friends and got Lily Potter killed?

Despair.

 _I'll never forgive you, Severus. Never._

Anguish.

 _You're worth nothing. You will die as you are. Nothing._

"Just get it over with, you son of bitch," Severus murmured, closing his eyes as he calmly waited for the end.

Suddenly, the room was filled with light so powerful it was like staring into the sun. It cut through him as fangs, daggers of light, sank into his arm, deep into the Dark—

" _ **No!"**_ Granger's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. " _ **You will not have him!"**_ Her voice was combined with a distinctly bestial roar. Magic— it was hers but it was somehow his as well— his counter-curse weaving into the raw blaze of the sun.

He _saw_ her— the golden lion goddess wearing the crown of the sun—She Who Is Powerful. Power. Might. Bloodthirsty, wrathful Sekhmet, the "Eye of Ra."

Her fangs injected the glorious radiance into his arm, and the Darkness screamed as it was purged from every vein, every pore, and every single cell in his body. Her fangs then retreated, but the lioness remained, lips curling back from fangs dripping pure light. She tore into the twisted tendrils of black that remained and shook them like a dog with a rag toy.

The sound of a chain breaking resonated in the air, and the lioness leapt upon him, and he knew no more.

* * *

 _ **Hhhghgahhhhh!**_ A lion's roar sounded off in his ears, comforting.

"Severus!"

"Severus!"

"Merlin bless it— how can we get to him with that thing on him?"

 _Growl._

"Whoa, easy now! I didn't mean it like _that!_ "

"Severus!"

Severus opened one eye to see Poppy giving him wide eyes and expressive eyebrows. "Go away, you bothersome woman, I was trying to _die._ "

"Severus!" Poppy hissed.

 _Growl._

"Merlin— bless it— wake _**UP**_ Severus!"

"No," Severus answered, rolling over as his ears flicked impatiently.

Ear… _flicked?_

He rolled over and grunted, tail swishing under his robes. He yawned widely, his lips sliding back away from his fangs.

What?

But the warmth felt good. Entirely too good to ignore. He snuggled into it, tongue rasping over fur and ears only to get a good grooming in return. Mmm.. yes please.

 _Mrrrmrrrrmrmrrrrr._

A deep rumbling half-roar escaped his throat.

" _ **SEVERUS!"**_ Poppy's exasperated voice sounded like she was trying to press vegetable cans between her hands.

" _ **What**_ , you annoying woman?!" Severus said, sitting straight up as a startled lioness flew off the bed she was currently sharing with him.

Severus glared, his tongue dragging across his teeth as he instinctively patted the bed next to him and summoned the gargantuan lioness to him. She hopped up and rumbled, causing the poor bed that was most definitely not designed for more than a human being, to creak dangerously.

The golden lioness, who sported a rather odd sun disc for a headdress, snuffled his face and gave him a good working over with her tongue, bathing his ears and the side of his face.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, I'm sorry I startled you."

"Severus Tobias Snape, will you _**please**_ _,_ for the love of all that is holy and magical, kindly pay attention!"

Snape sat up straight automatically, and then he scowled as he realised Poppy had pulled out the middle name trick to get his undivided attention.

"What. Happened?" Poppy asked.

Severus blinked. "You went through all that to ask me what happened?"

"Severus you are cuddling a giant, and I do mean giant, lioness on my poor infirmary bed. Don't you think that deserves some sort of— explanation?!"

The Potions master blinked.

"Did you have a Potions accident?" she suggested.

He gave her a blank stare.

It was then that Minerva and Albus came rushing into the infirmary only for Albus to screech to a halt, resulting in Minerva slamming face-first into his back.

"Albus, why did you— _ **Severus?!"**_

"Yes, _why_ is everyone saying my name like it's some sort of terribly surprising thing? My name is hardly a secret to you." A dark lion's tail lashed back and forth under his robes, darting in and out of the cloth to express his growing annoyance.

Albus pulled a rolling floor mirror out and put it in front of his Potions professor. "I think _this_ should answer your question, my boy."

Snape sighed, humouring the old wizard. "Fine." He glanced into the mirror and then froze in shock at what he saw. Immediately a large paw-like hand patted at his face, long claws extending from his fingers.

The head and blackened of a large lion stared back at him— still dressed as usual in his severe black teaching robes. " _Oh._ "

Minerva's face was sporting a wide grin from ear-to-ear. "Looks like the lion is in you, laddie.

The lioness rumbled, rubbing her whiskers and cheek against Severus', causing his eyes to glaze over. Half his lips pulled back in a grimace as the lioness rubbed against him, and he responded by taking her ear into his mouth and giving her an affectionate slurp.

"Severus, do you have _any_ idea how this came about?"

The Potions professor cocked his head as he tried to crawl out of the blissful fog his mind was in. "There was a book, disguised as Miss Granger's potions textbook. It contained a very powerful— curse."

The lioness made a bunch of growling sounds, like she was attempting to speak, but it wasn't quite working out yet. Somehow Snape had retained his human vocal cords, but she had not. She scowled and padded over to another bed and pawed it out of the way. It flew off over three other beds with a crash.

The lioness flattened her ears and growled. She thumped her paw on the book that had been tossed under the bed.

"And what is _this_?" Albus asked, levitating the book up with his wand. He ran a few diagnostic spells over it, and the cover fell off, exposing the original title beneath, _The_ _Mythical Book of Mythological Beasts and Beings._ The book in question gave off a blood red glow.

"Powerful Dark magic," Albus said. "Wait, who is this lioness?" His head seemed to clear as he abruptly realised that Severus hardly needed a textbook.

The lioness made growling, snarling noises.

" _Hermione?_ " Minerva said in a hesitant whisper.

The lioness mrrred and fondly head-bumped into Minerva.

"How much is still Miss Granger, Severus— and how much is lioness?" Albus asked.

"Yes," Severus said, cocking his head.

"That is not an answer," Albus said.

Severus seemed to be listening to something. "She is more than both." He scratched his head. "Something happened when I broke the chain," he said, his mind seeming to get clearer or less swamped in lion instincts. "Something Riddle did not intend."

Albus' head shot up. " _ **Tom?"**_

"I felt it— the same cold malice that went into my Mark, Headmaster. I wanted to enslave her. I—" he scratched his head with his paw-hand. "I broke it, and it lashed out at me. Into my arm." He scratched his arm instinctively. "She refused to let me— die."

Albus frowned. "Severus I wouldn't normally ask this, but I need to examine your arm."

Severus narrowed his eyes, and Hermione growled.

"Please, to make sure it hasn't triggered something worse," Albus insisted.

Severus undid his buttons and pulled up his sleeve, glaring at the Headmaster as his lips curled away from his leonine teeth.

Albus' gasp caused Snape to look down.

"And what Mark are we supposed to be seeing?" Minerva asked, exchanging glances to Poppy.

Snape's arm was perfectly pristine. Nothing, not even a drop of blood, marred his skin.

"I need to call in Alastor," Albus said.

Snape's hand balled into a fist, and Hermione immediately exposed her pearly white fangs in a snarl.

"Severus, do you realise that Miss Granger is mirroring your emotions even when you are not showing them?"

"Albus, I think you need to call in far more than Alastor," Minerva said as she saw the look of extreme peace on Snape's once stoic and chronically dour face.

* * *

"It's a mutual life-debt," Amelia said quietly. "And from what Kingsley tells us, it's also a pride-bond. The bond that happens between wizards and witches with a strong connection to the heart of the lion. It's somewhat like the bond that allows Fenrir to command his werewolves even in human form, but— lions are not wolves in any way shape or form."

"Pride _what?_ " Albus said.

"Pride bond, Albus," Kingsley said. "You don't see it here in Britain because you do not have lions so strong in your magic, but there are lions in many places, and once, lions were everywhere. But, in some places, people prayed for many days, fasting, just for a vision that had a lion, praying that they might embody its ferocity and— well, you get the general idea."

"So, someone created this book for protective purposes, but then Tom Riddle warped it to his purposes, but then somehow, a student gave it to Miss Granger for their own purposes, but then Severus managed to counter the spell to bring it back to its _original_ purpose."

"I think that about describes it," Amelia said with a smile as Hermione pounced on her and smashed her head into her chin, rumbling with leonine happiness. "And you're not going to be able to separate them, Albus," she added. "Whatever magics were combined to bring the two of them together and save both their lives wants them to _stay_ together."

"But he's our agent on the inside, Amelia," Dumbledore protested.

"Like that? Come on, Albus. What are you going to do, have him volunteer up his arm again? Looking like that?" Amelia jutted her thumb at the one way window where they had a view of where Minerva had draped herself over Severus' lion-head as she batted playfully at Hermione's whiskers. "I haven't seen Minerva this happy since— since she was married before, Albus. I haven't seen Severus truly at peace since Lily died. And on _your_ watch, Albus. You could have saved them by being their secret keeper but you let them police themselves."

"Free will, Ame—"

"Oh don't you give me that line, Albus. I know you too well. You throw around free will when it suits you, but when it comes down to it, you want people do things your way."

Albus sighed. "I really thought it best."

"Yeah, well, you listen to me, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I _know_ you, and I'm telling you, if you even try to separate those two, you'll be signing your own death warrant. Not by my hand. Maybe not even by their collective paws. Magic itself may strike you down, because you couldn't have such a remarkable series of utterly random events happen to make this— whatever that is— happen again. You're going to let me keep them here until we can figure out how to stabilise—"

"Severus has to _**teach**_ , Amelia!"

"As an anthropomorphic lion?!"

"I don't think most of our students would even notice."

Amelia glowered. "If I agree to let them go back to Hogwarts until summer, then will you agree to keep them together?"

"Amelia, the only way that would work is if she miraculously sat her N.E.W.T.s and passed them all. Then she could be declared independent."

Amelia waved a scroll.

"What is that?"

"Her N.E.W.T. scores."

" _ **WHAT?"**_

"We decided to test just how much Hermione retained from the near-death memory transfer."

"You can't be serious."

"See for yourself."

Albus opened the scroll and read it, his eyes darting quickly. He looked up at Amelia with absolute disbelief.

"As of today, Hermione Granger has sat her N.E.W.T.s and is legally an emancipated minor, and Severus has taken her on as his apprentice."

"A lioness— as his apprentice?"

"She sat her N.E.W.T.s as a lioness. What makes you think she can't fill the bill?"

"How does she even cast magic without a wand?"

"That sun disc she's wearing above her head seems to serve as a wand, from what we've gleaned."

"She's just going to _growl_ at him to communicate?"

"Don't be absurd," Amelia snorted. "She apparently communicates just fine to Severus and apparently to Minerva as well when she's in her tabby form."

"Albus, will you just admit that you need to find another way to spy on the Dark Lord? As far as we know, he hasn't returned."

"It _will_ happen, Amelia. I'm sure Alastor has his ear to the floor."

Amelia sighed. She watched as Minerva hopped in to Kingsley's lap and rubbed up against him only to have Hermione plough into them both. "I have a feeling, Albus, that whatever powerful magic allowed what happened to those two happen in the first place, really screwed up You-Know-Who's plans. He may not know it yet, but it may have already begun."

"Madam Bones?" a nervous-looking young page came in with a small scroll

"Yes, Patrick?"

"The trace on the book is complete," he said, handing her the paper.

Amelia nodded and read the paper as the page scurried off. "So, Albus. It seems we need to pay a visit to one Ginevra Molly Weasley."

* * *

 _ **Dark Magic Artefact Used Against Student at Hogwarts!**_

 _ **Trial Set for Weekend Wizengamot Session!**_

 _Two Hogwarts students, one third-year and one fourth-year, deliberately used a Dark Artefact last week against a fellow student, hoping to get to spend more time with the famous Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, who is currently taking part in the Tri-Wizard Tournament as one of the two Hogwarts champions. The artefact in question, disguised as a potions textbook, almost killed Professor Severus Snape as he attempted to counter the curse that targeted fourth-year student Hermione Granger._

 _Both Professor Snape and then-student Hermione Granger have suffered permanent disfiguring transfigurations of the body that have left them as undisputable evidence of the unwholesome nature of the artefact. To make matters even worse, a powerful magical bond initiated by the artefact has forced them to share the other's company until a cure can be found, if indeed a cure can ever be found for such a dramatic transformation. Other disturbing symptoms that were described on the Wizengamot docket include: forcible age shift, the forced creation of a permanent magical bond, and magically-induced torture._

 _Hogwarts students and staff alike have been adjusting to the drastically changed physical appearance of their Potions professor, as well as the shock of their former student peer who, well there is no delicate way to put this, is now quite the ferocious beast._

 _Rumour has it that the artefact was influenced, if not actually created, via ancient Egyptian magic, but so far nothing has been proven. The only thing everyone seems to agree on is that the magic involved was quite powerful indeed._

 _As for the two students behind this most serious situation, they will be brought before the Wizengamot to face charges of magical collusion, conspiracy to use Dark magic, use of a Dark artefact for personal gain, two counts of using a Dark artefact to cause permanent harm to another, two counts of using a Dark artefact as a form of torture, and theft of a Dark artefact._

 _The Wizengamot will determine what punishments are appropriate for the minors behind these heinous acts and they will also hold a vote on the duo's possible expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

 _Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is scheduled to speak on behalf of the students being charged and to give his opinion on whether should be permitted to return to school, as well as what will be done to prevent such terrible things from happening in the future._

 _Many have raised the question as to why such a Dark artefact was in Hogwarts to begin with._

* * *

"Has anyone seen Alastor?" Albus asked as he walked into the faculty lounge. Two leonine heads popped up from the enlarged sofa as Minerva and Rolanda looked up.

"No Albus, I have not," Minerva said.

"I haven't been able to find him anywhere. It's not like Alastor to be so difficult to find."

Rolanda frowned. "I haven't seen him since— well, since Severus and Hermione here sprouted fur and whiskers."

Severus snorted.

Hermione wiggled her whiskers.

Albus stroked his beard. "Severus."

"Hn?"

"How do you feel about tracking our missing Defense professor?"

"I am _not_ a trained bloodhound," Severus sniffed.

Hermione perked, bounding over the sofa to practically bowl the Headmaster over.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll go look for him. But don't blame me if she takes you to a dead elk carcass."

Hermione shot Severus a look, huffing.

"Do you actually have anything of his or are we just going to let Hermione guess?"

Albus grunted. "I was hoping to start in his office and go on from there."

Severus sniffed. "As you wish."

Hermione snuffled Severus' fingers and then took his robe sleeve between her teeth to guide him along, her tail looped over and across her back in amusement.

As the three of them left the lounge, Rolanda turned the page in her book. "He always seems to forget that you're a cat too."

Minerva yawned. "Probably for the best. I don't want to be sniffing for Alastor. He smells like scotch and pumpkin juice."

Minerva trailed off, and Rolanda looked up.

"What?"

Minerva frowned. "I just realised— he hasn't smelled of scotch and pumpkin juice since he started teaching here."

Rolanda raised a brow. "I should hope not. He's teaching!"

Minerva shook her head. "No, ye don't understand. He smells like that without drinking. That's just what Moody smells like."

Rolanda pinched her brows together. "So what does that _mean_ , Minerva?"

"I'm not sure, but— I think we should go assist with the search."

* * *

When Hermione put her huge paws against the door to Alastor's private chambers, the door creaked from her weight.

"He _can't_ be in there," Albus said. "I've knocked and Flooed him repeatedly."

"Maybe he needs assistance," Snape suggested, his lips pulling back from his teeth.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Surely he would have sent word. He's not the type to not have a backup plan."

Severus tilted his head, listening.

"Hermione insists that he's in there. Provided that scrap you gave her really came from him."

"Yes it did," Albus said. "Well, let's get this over with." He waved his wand and used his Head's "master key" to open up Moody's quarters.

Hermione bounded in making chuffing noises. Severus lifted his head, mouth parting as he scented the air. He growled, lowering himself to the ground to go on all fours as he followed Hermione.

Minerva and Rolanda came rushing in from behind them just as they stumbled over the drooling and prone body of—

"Barty Crouch Junior?" Albus let out a baffled gasp. "How is that even _**possible**_ **?** He's currently in Azkaban. Alastor and I put him there ourselves."

Hermione gave a loud roar to draw everyone's attention, her large paws thumping on top of a solitary locked trunk. Snape immediately pointed his wand at the trunk, unlocking it.

The trunk creaked open. Hermione stuffed her face into the trunk and snuffled around. She lifted her head, cocking it to the side with a puzzled expression.

""What?" Severus said, shaking his head. "She says there's—" He looked down into the trunk.

"Well, what is it?" Minerva asked, somewhat unsure as to what was more important at the moment— the man who was Barty Crouch Junior who should have been still locked up in Azkaban or the contents of a mysterious, previously-locked trunk.

Severus rubbed Hermione's ears. "I think she just found the _real_ Alastor Moody."

Moody's magical eye dropped to the floor and rolled away from the unconscious Barty, coming to rest by a wooden leg.

Albus wearily rubbed the space between his eyes. "Let's get him up out of that Merlin-forsaken hole and take him to Poppy. I'm going to need a stiff drink after all this."

Hermione mrrrowled at Severus.

"I agree."

"Agree with what, Severus?"

Snape shrugged. "Amelia is going to have a— cat."

Hermione licked her jowls.

"What did she say now?" Rolanda asked.

"She wants her payment in steak, preferably extra-rare," Severus said dryly. "But she'll settle for a nice, fresh wildebeest."

Hooch facepalmed. "Come on, let's bind this one up. Minerva, maybe you should send Amelia a nice, mind-boggling Patronus?"

Minerva shook her head. "One nice, mind-boggling Patronus coming right up."

Her silvery cat bounded off towards the Ministry.

* * *

 _ **Barty Crouch Junior Found After Escaping Azkaban**_

 _ **Officials Baffled As To Who Was Buried If It Wasn't Him**_

 _Barty Crouch Senior had a lot of questions to answer for when his son, Barty Junior, was found unconscious at Hogwarts when the Headmaster was looking for the then missing teacher, Alastor Moody._

 _The real Mr Moody was found locked in a trunk in what was presumed to be his own quarters. Moody stated that he was taken off guard by Barty Crouch Junior's appearance on the evening of his abduction when a spell hit him from behind. From his testimony, it has become clear that his abduction was well planned, and that Crouch Junior had help. As to who that help was remains to be seen, as Crouch Junior is currently catatonic at St Mungo's under heavy guard in case the condition is temporary._

 _Mr Moody was apparently being kept alive in order to be used for Polyjuice potion, as hair used before imbibing the potion must be taken from a living donor in order for it to be effective._

 _While Crouch Junior already has a life sentence in Azkaban, the fate of Crouch Senior remains hinging on an inquiry and subsequent trial. Many are wondering what these means for his former convictions and whether those cases will need to be retried._

* * *

 _ **Death Eater Catatonia?**_

 _Strange cases of people being found in a catatonic state all across Wizarding Britain have been reported almost daily, but what is most mind-boggling of all is that all of them have been confirmed to be Marked Death Eaters. A quick check with Azkaban has revealed that the condition has struck those incarcerated there as well._

 _Officials are scrambling to find out the why, why others are fearful that You-Know-Who has returned again and has slain all those that failed him._

 _Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, adamantly denies that the Dark Lord has returned and warns citizens not to let paranoia and simple coincidence pander to undue fears. Yet, with all the catatonic Death Eaters, one cannot help but wonder what is going on if not the return of You-Know-Who._

* * *

Severus woke in a sleepy haze, strangely lazy and peaceful. His eyes instinctively moved to stare at his left arm, draped so casually over the back of the lioness that had suddenly become the sun of his world. Yet, there was no resistance like he had against the Dark Lord or even the mechanisations of the great Albus Dumbledore.

He was _home_.

He was home because _she_ was there.

Of course, others had their speculations, but Kingsley seemed to have the truth of it. Home was where the pride was— and he and Hermione had become just that.

She had been forced to grow up very fast, hoisted with his entire lifetime of memories in his thinking he was going to die that day, but also because the ancient magic that Riddle had harnessed had a purpose long before he tried to corrupt it. He could sense it in his very bones.

Protect Hogwarts.

Whoever had originally ensorcelled the book had wanted to give Hogwarts a guardian. Somehow, the plan had changed, or maybe whoever was supposed to get the book never did, and it lay hidden, waiting amongst the other books until Tom had found it. Sensing the power of having such a creature, whatever it may be, he tried to twist that magic to his will, so whoever _did_ find it would become his slave.

He had forever, or so he thought, to wait for it to happen.

And what better to destroy his Dark Wizard rivals but a creature of the sun? Who better than the twisted spirit of Sekhmet, bent to his will and fed just enough to goad her bloodlust into a frenzy? Only something had gone wrong for Riddle or very right for the one who had originally set the ancient magic into motion.

Tom hadn't counted on Severus or anyone being willing to give up their life to break the chains on one Hermione Granger. Tom would expect his knights to give up their lives for _his_ whim, but he could never grasp pure, selfless sacrifice. And Tom couldn't have planned for Hermione, in the wake of her rebirth, to use her powers to save Snape's life and break his tether in the process. Two mutual life-debts merged together, and in that instant they had shared their magic as one being—and the furry side-effect that had clung to them even after the magical fusion.

How he knew it all, he couldn't say. It just came to him when he found himself grooming the lioness' ears and she his, an epiphany by grooming.

Hermione yawned, radiating pure mischief. He saw what she wanted to do without even trying: have breakfast— on the Headmaster's desk. He knew it wouldn't be a plate of sausage and eggs with some hash and tomatoes either, more like a haunch of zebra.

Mmm. Zebra.

Pity the house-elves seemed to mix up directions and always bring Hermione's food right to the Headmaster's office. You'd think they were scared to try and port into Severus' quarters directly for some, strange reason. Severus licked his chops in anticipation.

Albus was "forced" to negotiate with the centaur so as to allow Hermione to hunt in the forest, but it would have been foolish of the centaur not to make some sort of deal to their benefit, so they had demanded something for the safety of their foals as well as their hunters: the removal of Hagrid's "freed" breeding projects and invasive and unsupervised species.

Privately, Snape thought it was about time that Hagrid was made responsible for his pet projects and illegal breeding. So far, he had remained unpunished and even more strangely unused, thanks to Albus' writing it off as a possible challenge for the Tri-Wizard Tournament or a potential guard for the Philosopher's Stone. There was, however, the small matter of not only releasing an Acromantula into the forest but smuggling in a breeding partner for a confirmed man-eating species that had absolutely _**no**_ benefit at all to Hogwarts or staff since the only one that could walk amongst the spiders was Hagrid himself.

The truth of the matter was that the Forbidden Forest was largely forbidden due to Hagrid's projects than the resident centaurs. All the centaurs wanted was to be left alone or at least parlayed with on their own terms. On their own terms did _not_ include giant carnivorous spiders that didn't mind making a meal of sentient creatures. Snape really couldn't blame them for that at _**all**_ **.**

Nothing broke up a great, peaceful outing like a giant spider to the face.

SpiderOn™ Apply directly to forehead. No, thank you!

Hermione was rolling on her back, pumping her legs in and out as she made mrowling and chattering noises that all ended in a massive roar as she stretched out and shook herself from nose to tail tip. Ironically, she didn't say much as a lion— either that or the fact she shared his "self" in that she wasn't that much of a talker anymore, not like she had been, anyway. She didn't raise her paws up in the air and wave them around like she was directing airplanes on the runway or Quidditch players on a pitch. If she missed her old friends, it was hard to tell. She'd exchanged her perpetual need to be with the two most troublesome brats of Gryffindor to lioning around with him, quite literally.

What astounded him the most was that she _**did**_ want to spend time with him. She knew every painfully horrible detail of his past, his thoughts, his family, his dysfunctional attempt at finding a family in the Death Eaters— yet she still enjoyed his company and actually even— cared for him.

He knew he wasn't jumping the gun there because it took a very specific and powerful dose of her emotion and power to keep him alive and wrest him from the grasp of two masters, purging him of their control and influence. She honestly _**cared**_ for him. She had seen into his very soul and decided he wasn't as damned as he thought he was.

A part of him tried to remind him that she was just a _**child**_ — he had no right to feel anything for her nor allow her to harbour any feelings for him. But he knew full well the price she had paid to both in order to keep him alive.

She had more than a lifetime's worth of memories. Her mind had been forced to grow up, and her body had been twisted and reshaped to be able to harbour the power that she had been given. His had, too. For whatever reason, he'd been either cursed or blessed with an in-between form, somewhere between lion and man. To be fair, he was no half-state as much as he was a lion that walked on two legs— when he had to.

Lion fangs had attached firmly to his tail, and he roared, batting the lioness away. She hadn't hurt him, but she _**had**_ gotten his attention. She gave him an over the shoulder look, somewhat sullen and pouty for driving her off, and she placed her paws on the door and promptly trotted through it, leaving him with a feeling as if his arm had managed to run away without him.

He stood, fumbling with his robes. It had taken years of ardent practice to master dressing quickly with all his buttons, and now he had to do it with paws. It wasn't fair. You didn't see _her_ dressing herself in wool every morning.

Severus frowned. Technically he was covered in thick black fur. Why was he dressing in wool anyway?

No answer.

 _Fine,_ he argued with himself. _Be that way. Who asked you anyway?_

* * *

The second trial had been postponed thanks to a hundred and one separate dramas that seemed to barrelling down the hill and bowling over random people as it went. With Barty Crouch Senior under the spotlight, Junior having impersonated the real Moody, and the Potions master being turned into a lion-man— oh, and a student being turned into the physical incarnation of Sekhmet, sure a little pause was in order.

The truth was, he wasn't positive that was what Hermione was, but she sure fit most of the bill, as if the Egyptian headdress wasn't the biggest clue.

Severus found her sitting quietly with a bunch of Durmstrang, all so noticeable by their fur-covered hats and coats. The older one— Viktor— was rubbing her ears as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be doing, suffering her lion-handling of his shoulder and head as she thumped, bumped, and otherwise mauled his person.

Viktor laughed, allowing her to show her dominance, but he was seemingly enjoying her company and even more so— the wide berth most of the Hogwarts students gave her and thus him by proxy.

She had one of Viktor's comrade's hats in her mouth and she shook it violently, tossing it in the air and catching it again, slobbering profusely upon it.

"Agh! Dat is my _**good**_ hat!" the boy complained, visibly pleading with Viktor for assistance.

"Good and dead, da," Viktor laughed. "Need to keep straps tied, Sergei. Like little boy dat loses hat in vinter."

"Gahh!" Sergei protested, giving Viktor a shove only to get about four hundred some kilos of giant solar lioness dragging him to the end of the pier and dropping him into Black Lake with a sploosh.

Viktor hugged the lioness by the neck and patted her. "Thank you, my knight, but should it not be me saving you from snarling dragon or rabid werewolf?"

Hermione hnnnggh-roared, snuffling his face.

"Okay, well, next time, I have to save you, da?"

Hermione set her head on top of Viktor's, using it as a chin rest.

Sergei sloshed back and sat down, spitting out water as he did so. "Not fair, _bátko_."

"Seemed fair to me," Viktor teased.

"Dumping me in lake vith giant lion so _**not**_ fair!"

"You prefer giant bear?"

Sergei shook his head. " _Ne, bátko_. Stick with giant lioness dat eats faces off."

Hermione snuffled Sergei and sneezed on him.

"Lion sneezes are lucky, _brat_ ," Viktor said fondly.

"Luckiest little brother ever," Sergei bemoaned.

"Worried about next trial," Viktor said, frowning.

"Why?"

"Egg said 'but past an hour, the prospect's black, too late, it's gone, it won't come back'," Viktor recited carefully.

"Transfigure self into shark like old Professor Mikhailov taught us," Sergei recommended.

"Would. Could, but— spell does not always stick because already something else."

Hermione tilted her head, chuffing.

"Already Animagus," Viktor said, "and it not— undervater animal."

Hermione mrred, using her head to bonk Viktor on the shoulder and shove him over.

"Ah! Oi! Okay. Show you soon. After second task, da?"

Hermione gave him a dubious glance.

"Promise."

Hermione shrugged and smacked him upside the head with her tail.

Viktor helped Sergei up. "Come, _brat_. Sleep for tomorrow. Need keep strength up."

Hermione rubbed up against Viktor's hip and he pet her ears.

"Be vatching, da?"

Hermione sneezed.

"Dhat good luck if ever I heard it," Viktor said with a mischievous grin and the Durmstrang students wandered off towards their ship.

As Severus walked up and watched the boys leave, Hermione looked up at him and sneezed again. He made an odd face. "What was _that_ for?"

Hermione's tail whapped into him a few times. "For luck," her warm mind-voice said.

Severus sighed. "You _like_ him."

"He's kind to me. Even before I looked like this. He would make a good pride-brother," she said, projecting contentment.

"And we need a pride-brother why, exactly?"

"Why not? A pride brother would watch your back."

Severus shrugged. "I've never needed anyone watching my back before."

Hermione took his hand in her mouth. "All the more reason to have someone that can and will now."

Severus furrowed his brows, tail swishing. "You're not contagious are you?"

"I don't think so," Hermione said, licking her paw and then grooming her shoulder. "But I think— if someone really _wants_ to, I can help them get there."

"So if someone really wanted to be a psycho murderer—"

"Don't be absurd," Hermione said, looking up at him.

"You ever regret carrying around my memories?"

Hermione sneezed. "Not _once_."

"You're—" Snape looked down at her, soothing her ears gently. "You're really something special, do you know that?"

Hermione stretched lazily. "So are you."

* * *

The second task was a total mess. While Cedric Diggory came out first with the smoothest recovery, Viktor came up second with about three tons of kelp forest attached, clutched between his shark teeth. Finding Sergei in that ungodly mess had taken longer than the actual rescue. And then everyone waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

People started to whisper uneasily in the stands, and Snape had to put one hand on Hermione's shoulders to keep her from bounding down to the maze to see what was going on up close. He'd started wearing his hood up over his head to keep the casual glances away from him They'd tried glamours, and they just bounced right off both him and Hermione— especially Hermione. Amelia said they could try making a sort of projective glamour that did its work outside of the body, but it was going to take considerable trial and error and much more time than Snape had to volunteer until the summer hols.

The chatter was getting ever louder, and he could feel the depth of Hermione's worry for Harry. Minerva had said the boy really wanted to see Hermione after he found out what his best mate and said mate's sister had done to her, but that would require making arrangements through Snape. And everyone _knew_ what the dratted Potter boy thought of him—

Still, Hermione worried about him, and from the memories he shared with her, he knew she didn't think it was Harry's fault. His family was rubbish, and Severus knew Petunia from first hand experience. Hermione had tried to keep Harry out of trouble and on track, but there had always been adventure to be had with Ron and his family. Snape wondered how relations were going with the Weasleys after the shameful conviction that had caused both Ronald and Ginevra Weasley to be educated at **CETMAC** , the Center for Troubled Magical Children under the auspices of the Ministry itself— the single last place most people wanted their kids to be educated not due to the quality of the schooling as much as stigma that went along with it.

Now, Potter had "lost" all of his friends at once, at least the ones he normally had hung around. Severus looked down at Hermione, who was looking up at him with her head in his lap. She'd lost _her_ friends too— those who she had thought were her friends, anyway. The Wizengamot trial had been a tremendous strain upon her— learning that her supposed best friends had set her up to be cursed just so they could have plenty of the quality time they had decided they "deserved" with Harry?

To top it all off, the poor lioness had both Ron and Ginevra screaming their idiotic heads off that the Wizengamot were going to throw them to the lions to be torn to shreds ala the Roman gladiator pits. That had _**not**_ gone over well. Hermione had wedged herself under Snape's bed and sulked for a week, not that he blamed her at all. It had given him time to carve her out her own quarters off his own— not that she usually used them, save to study. She always wanted to crawl up next to him and sleep like a lion-shaped furnace.

At least the dungeons weren't cold anymore. And then there was that added benefit in that he had never before been able to sleep in the nude and not be embarrassed about it, thanks to a nice thick coat of fur.

Snape soothed Hermione's ears and rubbed her chin, trying to distract her from her worry. He could tell by her puffed tail that she was still very concerned, but she blinked lazily as he touched her, more content that she had been.

Fleur came up, but she didn't have anyone with her. She had scratches and cuts all over her face and claw marks on her arms and neck. The entire horde of grindylows had apparently attacked the unlucky French witch en masse.

The overseers were hurrying to pull her up, but Fleur was screaming in French and gesticulating wildly. No one needed to know French to understand that she was desperate to go back under to get whoever had been chosen for her to rescue.

Snape hadn't been told what or who each contestant was intended to save. Albus had kept that entirely to himself. But he _did_ know that Minerva knew, because she was obviously fretting over it. Albus said there was nothing to worry about. Even if they failed, the "treasure" would still remain safe. Of course, now that he knew the treasures were people, the source of Minerva's anxiety became much clearer.

And where the _**hell**_ was Potter?

The timer buzzed, and now the audience was really starting to talk, but the officials made everyone hush so they could watch and listen.

Utter silence— the stillness of the grave— descended.

Suddenly the dark water churned, and Gabrielle Delacour and Luna Lovegood surfaced, gasping for air as their stasis charms popped. They crawled up onto the platform dock, looking around, and shivering madly.

It looked like the officials gave them towels and even tried warming charms, but alas—both girls seemed to be chilled to the bone.

 _ **Whump!**_

Hermione had leapt over the railing and thumped on the other side, bounding towards the platform, making the huge leap from shore to platform— just barely— without getting wet. Her hind leg getting a tad soggy, the lioness shook it off, and then padded over to the two girls and curled herself around them.

Eyes stared at him.

"What?" Snape said. "They were cold."

The girls seemed very grateful, snuggling into the lioness' heat-radiating body with none of the fear that many others had displayed. The officials muttered together, a little put off by the giant "animal" around the children, but Minerva and Albus seemed to soothe their concerns.

 _ **Sploooosh!**_

Potter rose to the surface, gasping and bleeding from multiple claw marks across the face and chest. They pulled him up from the water and gave him a towel too. Within seconds, he had joined the other two by the lioness, teeth chattering and grateful for the warmth.

 _Slurp._

 _SLURP._

 _ **SHHLLURP!**_

Hermione took great pains to groom each of her "cubs," and Harry boggled as his wide assortment of nasty scratches and claw marks were healed right before his eyes.

"When _**I**_ grow up, I want to be a lioness like you!" Gabrielle declared, throwing her small arms around her neck and kissing Hermione on the head.

Fleur ran forward and scooped her little sister up, crying and hugging her tight.

"Thank you for saving my sister!" a grateful Fleur said to Harry.

Harry smiled, his teeth still chattering with cold. "It was nothing."

Fleur leaned down and gave Harry a kiss on the cheek. "Gabrielle is my everything. Thank you."

Gabrielle rushed up and gave Harry a peck on the cheek too. "Merci beaucoup!"

Luna smiled at him. "Thanks, Harry."

When Hermione made her way back to Snape and laid her head in his lap, he sighed, soothing her ears. "Are you quite through making a spectacle of yourself?"

Hermione sneezed.

"Hey, lion sneezes are supposed to be lucky," someone in the crowd said.

Gods, what did that make _his_ sneezes?

* * *

"You are mad!" Viktor shouted, standing up to the High Master, yelling at him in Bulgarian. "If I wished to take an _**artichoke**_ to Spring Ball, I did not need your permission!"

"You should take who was proper for your image as a Durmstrang!"

"You mean who is proper for you!"

High Master Igor Karkaroff suddenly decked Viktor, sending him sprawling arse over teakettle to crash into the side of the ship. "I am your High Master, and you _**will**_ do as I say!"

Viktor slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes darkening with anger.

A few of the other students ran in to help, but Karkaroff sent them flying as well with an imperious wave of his wand, each student falling and landing hard in the cold water and ice below.

"You leave them out of this," Viktor bit out.

"They will learn not to test me, as you obviously _**still**_ need to learn!"

Viktor narrowed his eyes. "I can give respect for you as High Master, but this has nothing to do with school. This is my choice."

" _ **I will not have you take some low witch from a Muggle family, especially one that looks like her! You are Durmstrang!"**_ Igor roared.

"You think lions not good to look at?" Viktor hissed in English.

Igor had had enough of Viktor, and he grabbed the younger wizard by the throat. "Britain may have soft rules. Soft children. Soft ways. But we are on Durmstrang ship, and this is Durmstrang place. And while you stand on Durmstrang and wear Durmstrang clothes— I. _**Own**_. You."

Igor pinned Viktor against the mast. "In old day," he said in broken English. "Tie insubordinate to mast and let days pass until they— come to understanding. Maybe, you need spend time on mast."

"What is _**wrong**_ with you?" Viktor said, choking. "High Master never like this. Never raise hand to student. Always we respect. You make us steer ship. You make us do clean, and now— you what? Kill me? For want to take beautiful vitch to Spring Ball?"

"A lioness is _**ANIMAL!"**_ Igor snarled, cracking Viktor to the mast, and uttering a spell that lashed him to it.

Viktor struggled, snarling. "Ve all animals."

Igor backhanded Viktor as a roar sounded out and a tawny blur of smoldering wrath slammed into Karkaroff and sent him flying overboard into the still-icy waters of March in Scotland.

 _ **Splooooosh!**_

Sinister green and black beams of pure Dark magic shot through the frigid water below the ice, lighting up the surface of the still-frozen lake. Then, there was an impossible silence save for the creaking of the ship on the ice.

Viktor let out a roar as transformation took him, and the ropes broke from the mast as he bounded off the side of the ship and plummeted into the icy water below in a blur of black and brown.

The Durmstrang gathered on the shoreline, still trying to pull their friends and fellows from the lake. They sputtered, shivered, and transfigured blankets from the rocks to help each other. Other students built a fire on the shore, drying wood with their spells and tossing it in— anything to warm themselves up. Most huddled around the fire, their clothes steaming as the fire warmed them up.

Viktor and Hermione burst from the water, dragging the glass-eyed Igor Karkaroff and what seemed to be a witch caught in mid transformation. Half of her body was like an insect and half human, but it was randomly distributed across her body. She didn't seem to be moving.

They dropped their "cargo" with a thud and then seemed to realised that each other were far more interesting. Whiskers to whiskers, cheek to cheek, and nose to rump, they inspected each other, snuffling, nuzzling, and tails lashing. The sun-disc over Hermione's head shimmered, and a lion Patronus darted towards Hogwarts. As she and Viktor snuffled each other, a golden radiance emanated from Hermione's body, casting warm sunlight in all directions.

The boys all sat up straighter, no longer shivering. The lions, however, were now quite floofy-looking. Viktor's mane puffed out like a Puffskein— and his tail a giant pompom. Viktor pounce-gnawed on Hermione, and she rolled and tumbled with him, they both letting out loud leonine roars. But even as they looked like they were tearing each other to pieces, they landed in a panting heap together, tails half-looped in relaxation.

Snape, McGonagall, and Sprout ran down to the shoreline and then skidded to a halt, their wands clutched in their hands. Their gaze went from the strangely off-kilter ship, the boys gathered around the bonfire, the bodies of Karkaroff and the half-beetle woman, and the two lions.

The lions rolled over onto their sides, exposing their bellies in a lazy roll.

"Severus, is this condition contagious?" Pomona blurted.

"Not as far as _**I**_ know," Snape said. "He seems to come with that ability all on his own. Why? Jealous?"

Sprout sputtered, turning away.

"I may be," Minerva said, seemingly pouting.

"What is going _**on**_ here?" Snape asked, staring at Igor's still form. He ran his wand over both still bodies.

Hermione lifted her head.

"He _**what?**_ And she— well, that serves her right."

"What, Severus?" Minerva asked.

"Remember the tales of the Nemean Lion, Minerva?"

"The lion with a hide impervious to magic and weapons?"

Snape nodded. "Apparently Igor and Ms Skeeter both cast Dark spells at her at the same time, and the magic reflected off her and onto each other. The High Master got Skeeter's— and she got his."

The teachers looked down at the two victims. Minerva sent a Patronus zinging away. "People are going to think we can't live without drama here at Hogwarts," she said with a sigh. "How are we going to explain that Durmstrang's High Master is— whatever _**that**_ is? What _**DID**_ happen?"

Hermione and Viktor padded up to Severus and rolled onto their backs, exposing their bellies as they batted at his robes with their paws.

"They faced down lions and lost," Severus said.

* * *

" _ **Hnnnnh. Hnnnnnh**_ _._ _**Hnnnrrrrawwwwrrrrhhhh!"**_ Hermione roared loudly next to the broom closet door, and two terrified students with their trousers down flew out of the closet and down the hall as they frantically tried to get (most of) their clothes back on while still in motion. Hermione curled her lips back from her teeth in a grimace. Viktor headbonked her, rubbing up against her.

Severus grunted, gesturing with his head, and the two lions attended, rubbing up against his legs and hips with a chuff.

Patrols had become quite peaceful, most nights. Thanks to not wanting to be sniffed out by the Hogwarts lion patrol, most of the trouble started happening on the days professors other than Snape or Minerva had it, much to the grumbles of the non-Animagus professors.

News of Igor Karkaroff's blindness and petrification and Rita Skeeter's merging of human and beetle parts (due to what they could only believe was due to being hit by a Cruciatus at exactly the _worst_ possible moment) spread very quickly throughout the school. The Deputy High Master from Durmstrang had sent one of theirs to watch over the abandoned post of the High Master and guide the students through their schooling for the remainder of the year, but there was no doubt that the whispers from Durmstrang were that the rest of the school was clearly wondering what the hell was going on in Britain.

Viktor chased Hermione down the halls, utilising the emptiness to his advantage, and Hermione zigzagged, giving the low _hnngah hnngah_ leonine rumble to encourage the merry chase.

Severus arched a furry eyebrow, shaking his head. Part of him felt the tugging urge to join in— perhaps he even needed it— but he buried to keep from being caught "frolicking" down the Hogwarts halls. That would be just what he needed, getting caught by Flitwick or worse, Minerva. She'd _never_ let him live it down.

It would have to wait for later— when prying Scottish eyes were not waiting to see him give in to his newfound instincts and prove her right.

Damnable witch.

Hermione and Viktor's combined roar rattled the walls of the Astronomy Tower just before four students fled out the door and away—

"Five points for being out after curfew Mr Dunnally, Mr Cravens, Miss Bell, and Miss Avonlee!" he snarled, and they panicked, running faster.

"And ten points for running in the halls!"

Hermione and Viktor padded back to him, looking awfully smug with each other.

Severus rubbed their ears. "Twenty points to House Lion."

They head-bonked him, tails swaying back and forth.

* * *

Hermione lay her head on the side of the hospital bed, staring at the blond-haired wizard.

"Who dis?" Viktor asked, his mind-voice curious and puzzled. The strange scents of the hospital were almost maddening to the lion's senses, and all three of them were having "issues" blocking it out.

"His name is Lucius. Lucius Malfoy. He— saved my life many times. He protected me as best he could from the Dark Lord's petty whims." Severus' nostrils flared, whiskers twitching. "I am not sure if he would even deem to speak to me looking like this, but— he was much more than what many saw him as."

"Like you," Hermione said, snuffling the comatose wizard.

"I would dearly like to think so."

Hermione snuffled some more, seemingly taking in his worth, and Severus had a flash of the Egyptian scales of the afterlife with the feather of Ma'at on one side and Lucius' heart on the other. Sekhmet stood at her father Ra's side, with the goddess Ammit lurking below to eat the hearts of the unworthy.

Severus placed a black paw over Lucius' pale skin. "Old friend, could you recite the forty two negative confessions from the Papyrus of Ani? Could any of us?"

Snape eyed the vase of flowers near Lucius' bed and realised Narcissa had visited recently. He scented her perfume lightly woven with that of the flowers— her favourite blend of essential oils that Lucius indulged her with.

Hermione's sun-disc glowed as her eyes took on a golden colour.

"You wish him judged worthy of atonement," her voice said, layered with a strange echo behind it. There were so many lions of legend behind it. Sekhmet, the Nemean, Maahes, Aker, Menhit, Pakhet, and those he could not name if only because they were as elusive as the morning dream.

Severus struggled to be honest rather than twist words in the typical Slytherin manner. "Yes. I believe he was more than what the Mark stood for."

"Hermione" stared at him, eyes flicking up and down as if to weigh his words. "Prove it."

And suddenly Snape was falling into the great swirling Abyss.

* * *

" _Severus?"_

 _Snape found Lucius staring at him. He had a peach in one hand and a puzzled expression on his face. "What are you doing here?"_

 _Snape looked around. It looked like the Malfoy gardens, complete with white peacocks. "Lucius."_

" _Is there something wrong? Is Narcissa—"_

" _Narcissa is fine," Snape found himself saying. "I gave her a mixture of tinctures to help her. The baby will be fine."_

 _Lucius' face relaxed. "Thank you, Severus. We've tried for so long, and Narcissa— she makes you almost believe that rubbish about the mingling of bloodlines making for a stronger magical base."_

 _Severus said nothing, and Lucius took it as agreement— just as he had intended._

 _Lucius put a hand on his shoulder. "You've never let me down, Severus. I will never forget that."_

 _Severus closed his eyes. "You owe me nothing."_

 _Lucius gave him a tight smile. "Family is everything, and you are family."_

* * *

 _Severus screamed as Voldemort had him writhing in agony on the floor._

 _Voldemort left him shuddering and lying in a pool of his own vomit. "I'm glad you see things my way, Severus. I would hate to think you'd changed your mind."_

" _Lucius. See to it that Severus gets a position at Hogwarts and— clean up this disgusting mess."_

" _Yes, my Lord," Lucius aid rushing up to Snape and cradling him in his arms, Disapparating immediately._

 _Lucius poured three potions in quick succession down his throat, forcing them all down before he relented._

" _I did not know," Lucius said in the darkness as he brought a towel over Snape's face. "I swear to you that I did not know."_

 _Snape's eyes stared up, blankly. He was far away— deep in whatever hole he had forced himself into to survive the pain._

" _I'm here, brother. For as long as you need."_

* * *

" _Brother, he will hit the Potter home tomorrow," Lucius said, jerking Severus by the arm. "Listen to me. There is no time. You must go to Dumbledore and get him to move them. There is no other way."_

 _Severus' face twisted in pain. "He will ask for everything."_

 _Lucius closed his eyes. "There is no other way if you wish to save her, Severus. As much as I think she doesn't deserve your loyalty or the pedestal you put her on, I know that you will blame yourself if you do not save her, and I will not have you pining away forever— You do not deserve that, Severus. Do you hear me?"_

 _Severus nodded._

" _Go to Dumbledore. Do what you must to gain his assistance," Lucius said. "I will make certain you are not with our Lord the night he goes so he cannot blame you for its failure. Go!"_

 _Lucius shoved Severus out of the alley he had pulled him into, leaving Severus standing in a park surrounded by small children staring at him in awe._

" _Are you a priest?"_

 _Severus pulled his robes around him and fled._

* * *

" _I don't have to listen to you! You're not my father!" Draco screamed as Severus put a hand on his head and sighed, watching the boy try to slug him. Draco seemed to get madder and madder until finally he yelled, "You're just a stupid half-blood anyway!"_

 _ **SLAP!**_

 _Lucius towered over Draco, grabbing his son by the collar and lifting him up to look him in the eye. "You will_ _ **never**_ _utter those words about your Uncle again, do I make myself clear?"_

" _Y—yes father!" Draco whimpered._

* * *

" _Did you know that the Old Ways actually had witches as the most powerful decision makers in our society?" Lucius whispered as he stared at the Dark Mark on his arm. This thing our Lord has us striving for isn't the Old Way— it's merely the less recent way." Lucius dug his nails into the Mark, wincing as the Dark magic within punished him for touching it with anything less than total respect._

 _Severus looked up at him, brows furrowing._

" _The Dark Lord is a lie, Severus, but you knew that didn't you?"_

 _Severus looked away._

" _How am I going to manage to protect my family, brother? I can barely even protect myself."_

 _Severus touched his shoulder, silent, but Lucius laid his hand over his and grunted softly._

* * *

 _Severus saw Lucius dangling precariously on the edge of a precipice. There was swirling sand all around, blindingly light in all directions. The blackened maw of the Abyss gaped below Lucius, and the center was the Dark Lord's face, his mouth opened in a perpetual scream as the death adder slithered out of his mouth to grab Lucius' legs and pull him down._

 _Severus bounded up to Lucius, but he found himself in his lion-form._

" _Help me, brother!" Lucius cried, his grey eyes wide and filled with terror._

 _The venom of the serpent was consuming Lucius, pieces of his flesh ripping away and floating down into the Abyss._

" _Can you accept— this— as your brother?" Severus heard himself saying. Here, in this place, he was not an anthro lion. Here, he was all lion— whose only human aspect was his mind._

 _Lucius' face twisted in pain. "You are my brother. That is the only truth I will accept."_

 _Severus tried to pull Lucius up, but his paws were not his hands, and couldn't dig in enough to hoist him up. His teeth grasped Lucius by the collar, but the fabric was ripping away like tissue._

 _Suddenly there was a dual roar, and Viktor sank his teeth into Lucius right arm as Hermione sank hers into the left. Bright, bright solar light spread across Lucius' body, driving away the dark venom as they pulled the man up from the chasm._

 _Up._

 _Up._

 _Up._

* * *

 _ **HnnnnnnggrrrraaaahhrrrRRRR!**_

Lucius's poor hospital bed bent and warped under the combined weight of entirely too much lion.

Lucius stood in the middle of the wreckage, shining blond mane framing the great white lion he had become. His familiar grey eyes looked out at Severus from a lion's face.

Lucius looked around, a baffled leonine expression wrinkling his muzzle. "Who gets to tell my wife that she's now married to a lion?"

Hermione and Viktor stared at Severus.

Severus crossed his arms, his ears flattened against his head.

One of the healers walked in and promptly fainted dead away.

Severus facepalmed, shaking his head back and forth in utter weariness. "I've done quite enough today," Snape retorted. "I'll have Minerva do it."

"Are you going to have Minerva explain that too?"Lucius asked, pointing a paw to the unconscious healer.

"No, brother. That is your job, as it was your fault."

"My fault?"

"We walked in as lions. _YOU_ are the reason she— well, whatever that is."

Lucius sulked. "Fine." He somehow managed to artfully toss his mane like an actor in a shampoo commercial.

* * *

"And you are quite sure this isn't contagious, Amelia?" Albus groaned, rubbing his temples.

Hermione flopped her side, cuddling Fawkes as Viktor laid his head over her back. Lucius lazed in the middle of Albus' office, looking very smug, like the lion who ate the warthog.

" _Quite_ sure," Amelia said with a chuckle.

"It was a willing conversion," Severus said, translating.

Lucius extended a paw to bump Fawkes, who eyed the male lion warily, much preferring the lioness, who was giving him a good grooming and a cuddle.

"I'm sure you understand my concerns, Amelia," Albus said. "Hogwarts seems to be gaining lions at a very fast rate."

"Why Albus," Amelia said with a smile. "I would have thought you of all people would have a great appreciation for lions given your House and all."

"This was _hardly_ planned," Albus retorted.

"Just because they weren't your idea doesn't mean it wasn't for the good of the many, Albus. Hogwarts seems have things well at hand," Amelia said. She rubbed Hermione under the chin, earning herself a rough tongue lick and rumble. "I did take the liberty of giving them all travel identification collars so people don't think they're randomly attacking places. I highly doubt anyone will mistake them considering you lovely creatures travel in a wonderful pride." Amelia smiled at Hermione who whisker-snuffled the elder witch with a feline smile on her muzzle.

"Amelia—" Albus protested.

"Oh, don't worry, Albus," the witch replied. "I did you the favour of sorting out everything with the board. In light of all this trouble with You-Know-Who's rampaging Death Eaters and the amazing chain of awful that keeps happening, they think the lions are right to take their place as the _de facto_ guardians of the school. Think of the sheer relief of that poor gargoyle."

Albus sighed.

* * *

Hermione sprawled on the top of the healer's station, yawning toothily with her tongue lolling as her tail twitched up and down as she waited for Severus to deliver his potions order to the healers that needed them. Mungos had been strangely unconcerned with his physical transformation into the furrier side as long as he still made great potions, and he was hardly the one to not brew a great potion even as an anthro-lion. He was savaging people under the full moon or some other such horror, so to them he and the rest of the pride were just lion-shaped wizards and a witch.

"Ahhhbrbrhghahghff!" a young child babbled, tugging on Hermione's tail.

Hermione bared her teeth in annoyance, grimacing, but the little girl seemed oblivious to danger.

"Oh, honey, don't do that," a healer said, trying to herd the little girl away. The girl continued to clasp Hermione's tail.

Hermione gave the girl an over the shoulder glance, annoyed.

The healer shook the child's hand to get her to let go of the lioness' tail, giving Hermione an apologetic glance.

Hermione gave the little girl a very Snape-like expression, her lips curling with a certain characteristic disdain.

"I'm telling you, I'm _**not**_ possessed!" a familiar voice complained loudly.

Hermione's ears swiveled.

"Now, now, Mr Weasley, I promise that I really can help you with that little bit of Dark magic residue."

"I don't _**have**_ any Dark magic residue!"

"Of course you do, Mr Weasley, and I am here to help! I seem to recall I was quite the crack at undoing curses and hexes!"

"You're insane!"

" _Tenebris—"_ the voice trailed off mumbling. " _Aranea!"_

"Whu—what?! _**OH MY**_ — _**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**_!" Ronald Weasley's voice screamed. "Get 'em off! _**GET THEM FUCKING HELL OFF ME!"**_

"Oh! That seems to be the wrong spell. Here I'll just—" the other voice sputtered. " _Aranea Cresco!"_

A terrified scream came from down the hall, causing Hermione to flatten her ears back. " _ **NOW THEY'RE EVEN BIGGER!"**_

"Oh! Um, that must have been the wrong— just let me fix that! Aranea vexas!"

A wave of angry red energy blew down the hall.

 _ **Crash!**_

Someone dropped something.

" _ **EEEEE!"**_

" _ **Spiders!"**_

Frantic people were holding back the door, keeping it from opening, but there were rather shrill masculine screams coming from the other side. Healers ran forward along with a hospital security team.

"What are you doing!"

"Sp-sp-spu— _**SPIDERS!"**_ the frantic witches said.

"Open this door!"

"No! There are Dark Weavers in there!"

"There are _**PEOPLE**_ trapped in there!"

" _Transverto Aranea!"_ came a terrified voice from on the other side of the door.

"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, _**OH MY FUCKING—!**_ " Ron's terrified shriek came through the door. " _ **WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU JUST HIT ME WITH? EEEEKKKKKK!"**_

" _ **Get this door open now!"**_ one of the healers yelled.

"Why is this door sealed!?"

" _ **Sp-spu-sp-spiders!"**_

"Gods bless it— Healer Sterling, get out from that door right this instant!

The other healer unsealed the door, hastily flung it open and two gargantuan spiders tumbled out of the room, one golden blond and one ginger-coloured, but both were screaming like little girls.

A stream of fluffy black spiders with a red hourglass marked on their abdomens filed out of the room. They were all about the size of a Quaffle, and magic zipped and arced around their extremely fluffy bodies. They staggered about a little drunkenly, the magic having scrambled senses along with their locomotion.

" _Whoa."_

" _Whoaaa, man."_

" _Tilt!"_

" _Why is the room spinning?"_

" _Halp!"_

The spiders bumped into a giant lion paw and they looked up, still very wobbly.

" _Excuse me."_

" _Sorry."_

" _So sorry."_

Hermione snuffled the spiders curiously and gave them an experimental slurp.

" _Oooo!"_

" _Kisses!"_

" _We like you!"_

" _Will you be our friend?"_

" _They didn't want to be our friends."_

" _They smooshed our mummy!"_

" _She got very flat."_

" _And really angry."_

" _And flat."_

" _She bit them both on the bum."_

" _Did we mention she was angry?"_

" _And then one of them made us all bigger."_

" _And they shot each other with weird spells."_

A larger spider came wobbling out of the room, looking rather flat— and distinctly disgruntled.

" _Mummy!"_

" _We found a friend."_

" _A lion friend."_

" _She's pretty."_

Hermione regarded the mother spider with a tilt of her head. The spider regarded the lioness with a tilt of her body.

" _Hullo,"_ the mother spider said.

Hermione snuffled the spider mum and gave her a good slurp.

 _ **Pop!**_

She was back to being round and less disgruntledly flat.

The mother spider hugged Hermione's muzzle with her legs. " _Thanks!"_

" _Can we come with you?"_ the "baby" spiders squeaked hopefully.

" _We can make stuff!"_

" _We love hugs!"_

Hermione lowered herself to the ground and let them clamber over her back and hitch a ride.

" _Yay!"_

" _Horray!"_

The spiders gathered on her back, creating a black and red stripe down her spine. The mother spider nestled on her head.

Hermione lumbered off, tail lazily draped across her back as the security team corralled up the giant "dangerous" spider pair off the ceiling and levitated them away.

* * *

 _ **Gilderoy Lockhart "Saves" Fellow Patient By Spider Summoning and Transfiguration**_

 _The afflicted Gilderoy Lockhart, who was hit with a memory charm approximately two years ago while working at Hogwarts, attempted to provide assistance to fellow patient Ronald Weasley while he was waiting to be examined by a mind healer for evidence of Dark magic influence with regard to his recent sentencing for his involvement with the forced Transfiguration of his potions professor and fellow Gryffindor housemate._

 _While the names of minor offenders are normally not revealed, the severity of the crimes they were charged with had them being tried before the Wizengamot and sentenced as adults, as the effects on the victims were both severe and permanent. Under conditions of their sentence, both Ronald and Ginevra Weasley were undergoing extensive Dark magic testing._

 _While Mr Weasley was awaiting the next phase of tests, Mr Lockhart wandered in from another floor and took it upon himself to "help" him. This resulted in the summoning of an entire clutter highly venomous Dark Weaver spiders from the Netherspace where they typically make their home. While the spiders are known to be quite mellow, Messrs Weasley and Lockhart unfortunately made matters considerably worse for themselves by attempting to kill the usually quite peaceful creatures with hospital trays and framed pictures._

 _The pair are currently being treated at Mungo's for a serious human transfiguration mishap that transformed them both into giant spiders._

* * *

 _ **Wizengamot Finds Rita Skeeter Guilty of Illegal Animagus Activities, Spying, Bribery, and Defamation of Character**_

 _During a closed session of the Wizengamot, Ms Rita Skeeter was found to be guilty on all charges of being an illegal Animagus, using her Animagus form, that of a beetle, to spy on and otherwise bribe and defame others for personal gain. The list of crimes and victims have been kept under tight wraps, but the end result has Ms Skeeter in Azkaban for what may add up to twenty years._

* * *

 _ **Wizengamot Releases Death Eater Igor Karkaroff to Scandinavian Aurors**_

 _ **Karkaroff to be Transferred to Nurmengard After Dual Sentencing**_

 _Visiting High Master of Durmstrang has been extradited in order to trail him again for his crimes again Wizarding kind. His arrest occurred after he viciously attacked his own students during their visit to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the Triwizard Tournament. Karkaroff has been sentenced for attack with murderous intent on a Hogwarts student and also for assault and battery on multiple Durmstrang students._

 _Despite these incidents, Hogwarts Board of Governors insist that security at Hogwarts is higher than ever. "While there are no schools that are perfectly safe, Hogwarts remains dedicated to the safety of its students and staff for the most important time of their lives: their education."_

* * *

"Winner of the Triwizard Tournament!" the announcer cheered as Viktor Krum appeared with the trophy clutched in his hands. His hair was singed. He had scratches all over his face, leaves in his hair, and the tail of a dead Blast-Ended Screwt draped over his shoulder.

The cheers rose from the stands, and Viktor raised the trophy up in victory as his fellow Durmstrang rushed up to surround him, lifting him up in celebration.

Fleur, Harry, and Cedric limped out of the maze with injured limbs, but they all supported each other equally. A wave of cheers came from the stands as Viktor was set back down on his feet and he embraced his comrades forged in adversity.

The stands went wild.

In the faculty box, Severus clapped quietly as Hermione stood on her hind legs and looked over the railing, giving the contestants a full-on leonine roar of approval. The spiders on her back lifted their forelegs in a cheer.

Viktor and Harry looked up together, pumping their fists towards Hermione in victory.

Severus sighed as a spider on his head cheered along, and another spider perched on Lucius' head did too. Lucius looked at Severus smugly, and Severus just rolled his eyes.

* * *

The end of term had gone out with far less drama than what had blessed the beginning, and both visiting schools parted with tears and hugs and no few new owl penpals between them. Yet, even as the new friends left to their home, Viktor returned after settling his graduation and affairs with his family to take up an apprenticeship with Snape that would allow him become the new DADA instructor when it was completed. While the post remained open to be filled for the upcoming autumn, there was a collective sigh of relief that at least after that, there would be a competent teacher in place.

Who was coming to teach for the year interim, however, remained to be seen.

Albus begrudgingly agreed to allow the updates in quarters for Snape, seeing how the pride had expanded, but only after Hogwarts had taken it upon itself to do it for them. Severus woke to find his quarters had been hoisted up into a sort of crescent overhang overlooking the school on one side and the lake on the other. The heart of the chambers had become an open savannah, complete with grasses and assorted trees ranging from acacias to bushwillows.

Lucius had found his true calling in being a lion, and proceeded to test out each tree for perfect shade or the perfect rock upon which to sprawl. The lions' combined roars rang out over the grounds as the sun set, letting there be no mistake as to who was patrolling the school.

Narcissa was taking a bit of time to adjust to the fact that her Lord Husband had take a turn to the wild and furry, but considering the other option of dead or life-long coma or imprisoned in Azkaban for being a convicted Death Eater, she was taking it far better than many had expected. Draco seemed far more angry and seemingly betrayed by it, still wanting to blame Muggleborns for everything, but he ultimately settled for blaming "Muggle-lovers" such as the Weasleys for the downfall of "everything." Minerva said most likely the fact that two of Draco's main role-models were now quite furry and fanged was not helping the boy cope.

The discovery of one Peter Pettigrew in a state of complete catatonia, drooling helplessly on the grounds of Riddle Manor in Little Hangleton, clutching some sort of horrific, twisted snake-faced baby ( _also_ in a complete catatonic state) had the Muggle authorities screaming bloody murder all over the papers, and the Ministry had their hands full trying to squash that buzzing hive of hornets without causing even _more_ paranoia and Muggles sniffing around where they didn't belong— or worse, where they'd end up dead.

The bright spot to the discovery of Pettigrew was that Sirius Black was pardoned and "officially" released from Azkaban. Severus wasn't seeing that as a positive, but Hermione chewed on his ear (literally) until he relented that living with Black was probably a hundred times better than living with Petunia Dursley and their dysfunctional family of Muggles gone horribly wrong. With a number of supervised visits on Harry's part to a place where Sirius was undergoing therapy and rehab to recover from his Azkaban experience, things were looking much brighter for Harry, and that made life a bit better for everyone. Grimmauld Place was being cleaned up both from a few decades of filth and neglect as well as punting out large quantities of Dark artefacts the Blacks had been hoarding for upwards of a few centuries.

They'd had to give the house-elf Kreacher some therapy as well after they found him trying to cling to "the master's" stuff, dragging and crying and even beating himself— and then they had to do it all over again when the portrait of Walburga Black spontaneously combusted when Harry moved in, exposing a hidden cache with an equally burnt and charred locket— all of which seemed to stem from some sort of stasis charm being undone when Harry officially moved in.

Aurors swept the house again (and again) to make sure nothing else was going to spontaneously burst into flames, explode, scream, or otherwise maim someone, and they finally declared the place "safe"—well, as safe as a place harbouring one overgrown hippogriff and two wizards could be.

Harry's nightmares had disappeared at last, and he invited Hermione over often to help him "sort things out" both mentally and physically, as Harry's new room was Sirius' old one, and there were a number of strange posters he really wanted to get rid of that his godfather had used a permanent sticking charm to affix to the walls.

Hermione had "convinced" the posters to leave by sharpening her claws on the Black Sabbath poster and threatening to urinate on another. Sirius had screamed, run in, and pried them off with a scraper, taking them, the plaster, and some drywall along with it, crying that those were one of the few things he had actually _liked_ about his childhood.

Severus slipped Hermione a turkey leg and looked terribly smug for the rest of the evening.

Surprisingly, it was Severus and Lucius who repaired Harry's room with a combination of magic, paw grease, and levitation spells. Hermione levitated upside down, using her paws to splatter plaster on the holes in the ceiling with Harry giggling like a lunatic under her as he held the pail. Viktor charmed the ceiling to be like the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but he added a few things like random Quidditch snitches zooming away and a few run-away brooms.

Therapy, apparently, was a team sport.

To add to the therapy aspect, Hermione "lent" Harry one of her spiders, who happily took to his hair, mended his socks, wove him some new curtains that didn't look like they were stolen off a funeral procession, and gave him some new sheets too. Harry named his spider-friend Marcus after the book on Roman history Sirius "accidentally" dropped on him when he may or may _**not**_ have screamed like a soprano witch on sighting it. Marcus became Harry's number one cuddle buddy, much to Sirius' consternation.

Miraculously, Severus and Sirius, while not _truly_ making up, did at least agree to be more agreeable for Hermione's and Harry's sake. Severus had come to care more for Harry as a person having shared Hermione's memories, and she had understood more about his unpleasant history with Black. While there were some things that were impossible for forgive and forget, such as an almost-murder via werewolf, they could at least agree that they had both matured since then.

Things weren't perfect, but they _were_ better.

Minerva suggested that perhaps Severus, Hermione, and Lucius might benefit from a sort of Animagus training that allowed the lion to assume the form of a human. Viktor agreed to help. Hermione was curious, but she wasn't hopeful, seemingly content with how she was. The challenge, however, now that _did_ perk her interest. They decided they would work on it together, using it as a sort of bonding experience— not that their bond wasn't pretty well cemented through adversity.

Hermione was silent for a few days after, and when she finally perked up again, she told Severus it would be nice to see her parents again— in a form that didn't freak them out and send them diving for the elephant gun. They all agreed to work hard together on the lessons from Minerva and Viktor. Lucius chuckled it would be more fun to go to the board meetings as a lion, and Severus shook his head at him.

"I swear you're living your first childhood, since you seemed to have skipped over it completely the first time," Severus had grumbled at his old friend.

Lucius had replied by looking utterly smug, something he did exceedingly well.

Sometimes the white lion-wizard would send Hermione after Severus, guiding her all too well after things that he _knew_ would ruffle the Potions master, yet he couldn't stay mad at her because she projected so much glee and happiness at her prank that getting angry would have made her sad— and none of them ever wanted Hermione sad. It was practically inscribed in their lion brains with a giant flaming heart around it. _**Never**_ break the lioness' heart. Rule for peaceful pride life number one.

Remus finally came out of hiding, at least long enough to move in with Sirius and Harry. He was still a known werewolf, and someone named Dolores Umbridge was doing her utmost to make things as difficult as possible on him— far more difficult than he'd ever had to deal with before.

Hermione had given her ex-professor a good sniffing over, padded into Sirius' parent's old room (which was conveniently transformed into a nice paddock for Buckbeak) seemed to have a discussion with the hippogriff, and came back with a pile of pristine hippogriff quills.

With a little translation, Hermione said Remus could make a unique business selling exotic hippogriff quills for writing or even hair and broom decorations. A spiderling bounced up and down with excitement, wanting to help, and quickly demonstrated how to wrap a quill with spider silk for a smooth, comfortable writing grip. Sirius ribbed Remus that it took a _real_ lion to get him on track, and Remus had agreed with a sigh. When his first prototype hippogriff writing quill sold for as much as a new wand, Remus stopped sulking and immediately got to work, dragging Sirius into as well.

Buckbeak seemed a little puzzled as to what was so amazing about his shed feathers and why they were digging through his nest to get them, but it earned him a few extra plump ferrets to munch on, so he wasn't complaining.

The new catalogue for "The Silver Hippogriff: Fine Quills and Accessories" hit the owl-post in less than a month, and they found out people were willing to pay three to five times as much for a rush, custom job.

Rumour had it that some muppet was selling cheap knock-offs in Knockturn Alley, but they couldn't even come close to the feel and strength of _real_ Dark Weaver spider silk. It seems Remus' new niche was safely in the bag, and for an added bonus, it got Sirius out of the bottle and witches' knickers and acting like a proper role model for Harry.

Harry started his own little section in Remus' catalogue making custom coloured silk handgrips for brooms with his spider buddy Marcus and it seemed to even Harry out emotionally in finally having something to focus on that he could say was _his_.

The spiders were happy to please, and they worked for flies and cuddles, both of which they got in scads. Though, at the end of the day, the majority of the spiders stayed with their mum, who was sticking to Hermione like glue. She knew a good thing when she had it. Hermione didn't mind and seemed to appreciate having a nightly snuggle buddy and a chasing target. The spiders would "flee" from her as she chased them up and down the halls of Hogwarts like Minerva after a catnip mouse. Once she was exhausted, they all piled up together and took a nap.

Albus had respectfully requested that that particular sleeping place _not_ be right at the bottom of his staircase, if she would please be so kind.

Hermione grumbled slightly, but did as Severus asked, making it obvious that she was obeying Severus over Albus himself. Minerva was rolling around in the sun with them after that, amused up to her furry eyebrows.

Rumour had it that Amelia had a photograph of Albus trying to step over a pride of lions that were snoozing at the bottom of his staircase. If it was true— no one was telling.

* * *

"I want these filthy— _**ANIMALS**_ — removed this instant!" Umbridge screeched as she inspected the faculty lounge.

"I thought you were fan of cats, Madam Umbridge," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard.

"These are _**not**_ cats!" Dolores hissed.

Hermione lifted her head. Viktor yawned toothily, making sure to show all of his fangs. Lucius rolled over on his side and playfully batted at Hermione's muzzle.

"I'm not sure if the magi-biologists would agree with you, Madam Undersecretary."

"Now you see here, Dumbledore!" Umbridge said, scrunching her face up unattractively, "It is against regulations to have animals running free in an educa—"

"Now, Madam, you needn't worry," Albus said, smiling as the toadish woman squirmed. "This is Professor Snape," he said as the Potions' master flicked his eyes over the newspaper. His black claws tapped against the parchment with a disturbing half-rip. "I'm sure you've heard of his unfortunate forced transfiguration. This are his apprentices, Hermione Granger and Viktor Krum. Ah, so you are aware of Mr Krum, yes? Quite the family. Quite the Quidditch player. He's apparently an unparalleled whiz at Defence. Ah, and of course you know Lord Malfoy."

"Lord Malfoy would _**never**_ associate with beasts!" Umbridge said, puffing her face out like a bullfrog.

Hermione jumped up, rubbing up against Severus as she grimaced, letting her teeth slide against his paws. Viktor followed, and Lucius took his place at her other side, they pushed by Umbridge, and as they passed, Lucius made wind. The lions disappeared out the door and away.

"Oh, Severus," Albus said. "Poppy said to ask you for an extra batch of Dittany before the students come back."

"Of course, Headmaster," Snape replied, flipping his paper.

"Thank you, Sever—"

 _ **Thud.**_

Albus stared at Umbridge's unconscious body in the middle of the floor. He popped a lemon sherbet into his mouth. "Hrm, well, this is going to be an interesting year."

Severus flipped another page, saying nothing.

* * *

Lucius was looking smug. Again.

Hermione was giving him a good tongue bath, ruffling his mane one direction and then the other, and then he returned the favour by grooming one side of her muzzle and then the other while Viktor groomed her shoulders.

"Someone is having quite the spa treatment," Snape mumbled. "Take this case up to Poppy, if you please."

Hermione hopped up and grabbed the basket of potions. She nudged Snape's hand to get a scratch and then padded out the door.

Lucius and Viktor looked on wistfully.

"You two are _**so**_ pathetic," Severus said with a sigh.

Lucius rolled over, sprawling, and Viktor yawned widely in response.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm having a name-your-own spiderling contest. Leave a review with your ideas for an original name you want to see, and you may see it in the next chapter! The more original the better!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Dang it, this was supposed to be an one-shot… *cry*

 **Beta Love:** The Dragon and the Rose, Dutchgirl01, and Flyby Commander Shepard

 **Who Needs Enemies With Friends Like This?**

Chapter 2

 _Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light. -_ Helen Keller

Hermione popped her head over Minerva's desk and the mother Dark Weaver crawled off, scurried across the desk, webbed a shortbread finger, and brought it back to her. Hermione gave the spider a happy slurp and made the biscuit disappear. The mother spider hopped back between Hermione's ears and radiated mission accomplished.

Minerva peered over her spectacles at the lioness.

Hermione blinked at her.

"Hermione."

"Rrrowrl?"

"Why don't you go sic your spiders on our guest professor's office?"

Hermione perked.

Minerva gave Hermione a rub under the chin. "Off you go, now."

Hermione nipped the biscuit from between Minerva's fingers and padded out of the office giving the low, rumbling hhhnnnnnhhh huuuhnnnning call.

Minerva smiled, nibbling on a biscuit as she continued to write on the parchment.

* * *

Kingsley was pounced and pinned by a happy lioness faster than he could finish walking in the gates of Hogwarts.

"Oof! Hello there, my lady," Kingsley gushed.

Hermione rubbed up against his chin and rumbled, tail thwapping against him like a drum.

"You're looking lovely, my lady," Kingsley said affectionately.

Hermione snuffled his face and rolled over on him. "I like you."

"And I like you too," Kingsley answered.

Hermione froze and then very slowly eyed Kingsley. "Hi."

"Hello," Kingsley answered.

"You understood me? I mean. You—"

Kingsley smiled. "So it seems."

Hermione beamed with pleasure, her tail waggling to and fro like a dancing cobra. "You'd make a glorious lion."

Kingsley grinned. "Oh to be one," he replied. "My grandmother would be so proud."

"Truly?" Hermione asked.

Kingsley plopped down in the grass, paying no attention to his robes as he shared a sandwich with her. "Our family was very in tune with animal magic. Lion magic was always considered strong because they work together. While they could be brutal, the most successful were prides with more than one male and the ever skillful lionesses. Others preferred the cheetah, thinking it faster than any other cat. Others admired the leopard for its skill while solitary. But my family, we always admired the lion."

Hermione licked the mustard off her muzzle, grimacing as she maneuvered her tongue around to get the yellow condiment off her whiskers.

Kingsley laughed, helping her wipe the sandwich remnants off her face.

"The pride is stronger now," Hermione said. "Stronger it is— stronger Hogwarts is. Safer."

Kingsley nodded.

Hermione bumped her head against Kingsley. "Why are you here?"

The Auror sighed heavily. "The Headmaster suspects that Undersecretary Umbridge is going to try something. What, he is not sure, but she is not known for her tolerance and compassion."

"Neither is my master," Hermione said, amused.

Kingsley snorted. "There is a difference."

Hermione looped her tail. "I know. She doesn't like me. She doesn't like any of the lions."

"I don't imagine so," Kingsley chuckled. "She supposedly loves her kittens on her collection of plates, but she detests just about everything else. I loathe to think what she would do to a real one."

Kingsley stood up and brushed his robes off of grass and dirt. "Well, I should check in with Albus and make sure everything is going okay."

Hermione bonked his hip with her head. "Want to take a spider? They make great spies."

Hermione's arachnid entourage perked, bouncing up and down on all eight legs.

"How would you know, young lady?" Kingsley asked.

Hermione grinned, showing all of her fangs. "I have my ways."

Kingsley arched a brow and extended one hand, palm up. One of the spiderlings hopped on his hand, giving a thrumming spider purr. "And what is your name, hrm?" Kingsley asked.

Hermione wore her best halo. "That one is Bumnipper."

Shacklebolt cough-snorted. "Oh?"

The spider scurried up his arm and dove under his hat.

Hermione gave Kingsley an affectionate slurp. "Can't imagine why he'd have that name."

Kingsley sniffed. "I think you've been hanging around too long with Mr Tall Dark and Maned."

Hermione rumbled happily. "You should too."

The wizard rubbed her ears. "Perhaps, I should."

* * *

Dolores Umbridge hated children, but she hated beasts more. Cornelius had told her all she had to do was a quick check on the Hogwarts curriculum while her real job was to see if there was talk of You Know Who spreading around the school. She knew Fudge was really concerned that Dumbledore was after his job, but from what she found, Dumbledore wanted nothing to do with the Ministry.

However, instead of whispers about the Dark Lord's resurrection, she found the school infested with animals. Unlike her beloved kitten plates, they were the huge, larger-than-life, smelly kind. They had a strong, musky odour that offended her. Why she was the only one that seemed to notice, she wasn't sure.

Sure, Dumbledore said that tall, black one was actually Professor Snape, and yes, the man had been transfigured after trying to save the life of a student who was also transfigured—

It didn't matter.

They stank. They were dirty animals.

She hated how Dumbledore and the staff let them wander the halls unsupervised and unchecked. She hated how a freak was teaching Potions. A freak with two freak apprentices and a freak friend masquerading as Lord Malfoy. There was no way that white lion was really Lord Lucius Malfoy. It was just a trained beast.

Umbridge spotted a child waving around a wand and supposedly practicing spellcrafting. She curled her lip. That was not a safe way to learn magic. She started to storm up to the boy, intent on putting them in their place—

A black lion appeared beside the boy, taking their arm between its teeth and gently moving it upward.

"Like this, sir?"

The lion watched as the boy did a motion, his arm higher than before. A beautiful blue butterfly danced from the tip of the boy's wand in bright blue-white vapour. The boy beamed brightly. "It worked!"

The black lion gave him a look.

"Well it worked for me!" the boy corrected, looking abashed.

The black beast sneezed and used his head to wedge the boy's back and push him along the hall.

"Okay, I get the message!" the boy said, picking up his bookbag and dashing down the hall. "Thanks!"

Umbridge fumed as the boy left, even more aggravated by the beast pretending to be a teacher. She stormed toward the animal, intending to intimidate it out of the hall.

As she approached, however, it became clear the beast was larger than she'd expected. The black lion's eyes were not even level to hers. They were higher. Had the beast magically enlarged itself? That was unnatural! Unthinkable!

She had her wand out, clutching it tightly as she brandished it.

"Beasts have no place teaching at Hogwarts!" she cried.

The black lion stood, growing even taller, body elongating as it stood on its hind legs and then shifted into the even taller Viktor Krum. The wizard's black eyes bored into Umbridge as power rolled off his aura— the likes of which Umbridge had never felt so close and personal.

"Good thing I not just beast," Viktor's voice rumbled. "As I recall, pulling vand on staff of Hogwarts not allowed. Vould be pity if news should get out and bite you on rear."

"Are you threatening me?!" Umbridge screeched.

Viktor gave her a unnervingly calm smile. "Do you feel— threatened?"

Umbridge's face grew red, and she stormed away in a blur of angry pink.

Viktor looked down the hall as she disappeared, his dark eyes fathomless.

* * *

 _ **Madam Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge Draws Wand at Apprentice Viktor Krum, Bulgaria's Treasured Seeker**_

 _Photographs of Madam Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge drawing her wand on Apprentice Krum as he was tutoring a student in the halls of Hogwarts have surfaced today, spurring on howlers of outrage from fans around the world who have come to know Viktor Krum from his exploits as the world's best Seeker on the Bulgarian Quidditch team._

 _Hogwarts, which was honoured to have him apprentice for teaching once his apprenticeship is done, denies any sort of wrongdoing on Mr Krum's part. Everyone interviewed seemed to think he was one of the most levelheaded and patient teachers, ready to help even the youngest student with their spellwork._

 _While the Ministry declares it all to be a grave misunderstanding, some are writing in, demanding that the Undersecretary leave Hogwarts and make a public apology to Mr Krum for that so-called "misunderstanding." A Ministry representative was not made available for comment._

* * *

"Something is troubling you," Severus observed when Hermione quietly laid her head in his lap as he graded parchments.

Hermione turned her head up, placing a paw on his knee.

Severus set down his quill, frowning as he looked into Hermione's eyes.

"Kingsley said he'd stop in tonight after he spoke with the Headmaster," Hermione said. "He said he had something he wanted to share with us."

Snape's brows knit together as his lips pulled back from his fangs slightly. "Kingsley is one of the few fully honourable wizards whose word is truly his bond. He would never fail to show up without sending word."

"Do you know him well?"

Snape shook his head. "Not very well, but I know him well enough to know he has always treated me like a human being when many others did not."

Hermione was silent for some time. "I _like_ him. He respects us."

Snape stroked her head with his paw, seemingly realising she weighed her respect on how much another gave not just her but her entire extended lion family. "Will it make you feel better if we do a patrol early tonight?"

Hermione nodded.

Severus finished up the scroll he was on. "All right. Let's go."

Hermione rubbed up against him fondly. They walked out of the office together, side by side, with Hermione's tail gently smacking into his side. Snape's paw curled around her tail with a reassuring pat.

* * *

"I'm sure you can see my concern, Headmaster!" Umbridge cried, her voice a half-screech and protest mixed together. "You _**can't**_ allow a teacher's apprentice to go flying around on a broom when he should be here teaching the students!"

Albus frowned as he sucked on a lemon sherbet. "Dolores, while I do understand your sincere concern for the well-being of our students here at Hogwarts, I can assure you that if Severus released his apprentice to play Quidditch then all of the official obligations have been satisfied."

"The proper role model should not be out there doing tricks on such unsafe—"

"Dolores, all of our students are trained in broom safety in their very first year," Albus assured her.

"This school is to promote a safe environment in which to educate these children!"

"Dolores, what is it that you _really_ want from this school?"

Umbridge turned red in the face, her cheeks puffing out unattractively. "I want these students to show some proper respect for the Ministry and magic and— and—"

Albus stared at Dolores, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"They should respect their betters!" she hissed, storming out of the office.

Fawkes warbled _London Bridge is Falling Down_.

Albus wrinkled his nose in disgust and pulled out a pile of parchments. "What next? Nundu cubs in the cupboards?"

Fawkes chirped, "She put the lime in the coconut, she drank 'em bot' up."

Albus eyed the phoenix somewhat suspiciously. "What are you up to, Fawkes?"

Fawkes dangled upside down from his perch. "Que sera, sera— whatever will be, will be."

Albus shook his head. "Phoenixes."

* * *

"What are you doing here, Snape?"

"Why, I see to be holding up this part of the wall, Madam," Severus answered, picking particles out from under his claws.

"Don't get cute with _**me**_ , Snape. Step away from that wall immediately!"

"You really don't want me to—"

"Step away from that wall this very instant!" Umbridge screeched.

Snape sighed and stood away from the wall, and the it promptly collapsed on top of Umbridge in a cascade of stone and billowing dust.

Flich ran up with a bucket of cement. "I think this will fill in the— oh."

"My apologies, Mr Filch. It seems that Madam Umbridge required me to stand over here despite my protests to the contrary."

Filch looked at the pile of debris with a sad expression.

Mrs Norris sneezed as the dust settled, appearing on top of the face-down Umbridge's head.

Snape pulled out his wand and pointed it to the debris, using a spell to guide it back in place. "Well, I can either help hold this wall up so it doesn't fall on anyone else or take Miss Umbridge to the infirmary."

Mrs Norris kneaded Umbridge's head with her paws.

"Pity I can't cast a Patronus, as it is not part of the Hogwarts Ministry-Approved Curriculum."

"Mrowl?" Mrs Norris replied.

"Pity my apprentice is forced to stay in her quarters as I patrol after hours because she has not the battery of authorisation tests required for her to wipe her nose without my permission, let alone be around students after dark."

Filch put the finishing coat of magical cement on the wall to repair the breach caused by some random prank gone wrong. "Done, professor. Do you need a hand carrying Madam Umbridge to the Infirmary?"

"Alas, I am not allowed to touch a Ministry-affiliated employee due to Educational Decree 52F64B.2. Nor are you, Mr Filch, as your family name is not listed on the approved list."

Filch rubbed his head. "Oh, well— what do we do then?"

"I have to walk to the owlry and sent an official request for assistance to the Ministry to excavate Madam Undersecretary. Alas, I'm not allowed to have any of the official Ministry parchment due to my blood status not being pure enough due to regulatory bill 52.35F."

"Surely there is something we can do?" Filch asked.

Severus pulled out a giant tome of regulations and started to flip through it. "Maybe there is some exception in this," he said as the book unfolded into a list of decrees that extended down the entire hall from the book.

Mrs Norris broke wind.

"Mrs Norris!" Filch cried, visibly mortified. "Sorry, sir. She's been binging on sardines ever since the Durmstrang students got her started on them."

Snape licked one claw and slowly turned the page, sending another line of parchment down the hall, all full of decrees. "Not to worry. She and Lucius can certainly share a room."

* * *

When Viktor and Lucius returned from the Bulgaria versus the Netherlands Quidditch game, they were both decked out in leis made of bright flowers, streamers, ribbons, flags, scarfs, and lipstick from many enthusiastic witches.

Hermione's fur puffed out in surprise, her tail resembling a bottle brush as she tried to parse the scents of her pride under all the rather excessive amount of— bling.

Severus' eyebrows got lost in his mane as he eyed Lucius with nothing less than utter bewilderment with a chaser of horror. "Did you— get attacked by a Hawaiian mob on the way home?"

Viktor disappeared into the bath almost immediately, walking in human but coming out a lion. Hermione bounded over to him and rubbed up against him, helping re-scent himself back to normal.

Lucius, on the other hand, made himself busy peeling all the stuff off himself and storing it away in well-ordered piles in different drawers in the cupboard. It took him about an hour before he padded into the bath to wash— his white fur was covered in the Bulgarian teams colours painted on him like a living flag— except for his head and tail, which were covered in witches' lipstick.

"Vas big party after game," Viktor said, his mind voice sleepy. "Bigger because ve von."

Severus rolled his eyes before flopping on his side to sleep. "Just extinguish the candles so we can all go to sleep, hrm?"

Viktor smiled, showing all his fangs. He padded over next to Severus and sprawled next to him, smelling of sandalwood soap. Hermione rumbled and flopped between them, letting loose a large, toothy yawn before snuggling between them both. Just as they were almost asleep, Lucius padded back in, extinguishing the lamps as he went, flicking his tail just so. He flopped in the pile and closed his eyes.

"Sodding show-off," Snape grumbled.

Lucius radiated smug amusement as they all fell asleep.

* * *

"It's not like Kingsley not to say something," Amelia said. "You are right to be worried."

Hermione paced a circle around Amelia as the witch sipped her tea.

"When was he supposed to be here?" Severus asked.

"A week ago," she answered. "He said there was something strange about the supply list that Madam Umbridge had shipped over to Hogwarts. He said there was something he had to check out before he could be sure. He planned to do some research, talk to you guys, and report back to me."

Minerva frowned. "He never checked in with me, and Albus hasn't said anything."

Hermione looked up at Severus.

"Hermione says she met him on the way in from the gates. He left her to meet with Dumbledore, but that was a week ago. He was supposed to meet with us that night for dinner, but he never showed. It wasn't a formal invite or acceptance, so we figured he had something come up unexpectedly," Snape translated.

Amelia shook her head in dismay. "I am quite worried. It's just not like him not to say anything. He knows how to send a Patronus blindfolded with his hands tied and without a wand. Something— something's very wrong."

"He _specifically_ said it was something regarding Dolores?" Minerva asked.

Amelia nodded. "Yes, it was specifically about something he found researching her supply lists for Hogwarts. Something about quills with an odd designator on the list."

"Odd? In what way?" Snape asked, frowning.

"Students always bring their own quills to school," Minerva said.

Amelia nodded. "I'm not sure, but whatever it was had him driven to come here."

Viktor drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair he was sitting in. "Vitch is bad news. Dark magic hangs around her aura like did vith High Master." Viktor frowned. "First thought very bad sign, so tell Kingsley. He say stay put. He take care of it himself. Vould tell us later how things vork out."

Hermione eyed Viktor, narrowing her eyes.

Viktor spread his hands out and waved them. "Kingsley told me not worry. Stay put. He Auror. No reason to doubt."

Hermione sighed and drooped a little, shaking her head.

Severus let his breath out slowly. "No way to trace him?"

Amelia shook her head.

Hermione stood up, tail swishing.

"Ms Granger remembers his scent," Severus said.

"That may be our best lead," Minerva said.

"Well someone needs to distract Umbridge while the rest of us try to find him."

Viktor smiled. "Leave dhat to me. Consider it apology for not saying something sooner."

Hermione rubbed up against Viktor with a low rumble that vibrated the floor, and he smiled.

* * *

Severus' nostrils flared around the same time as Hermione's, a tickle of recognition spurring him on. He could smell it too— the soft odor of Shea butter soap mixed with the wizard's family recipe of oils and ash. It was a very Kingsley smell, unlike perfumes or colognes that some witches and wizards used. Like Kingsley himself, it was subtle but it lingered like a presence.

"I can't believe I didn't sense this before," Hermione said, placing her paws on the wall as she sniffed around.

"We do not patrol this hall," Severus replied. "There are no rooms— no places to hide.

Hermione stuck her nose into part of the wall. "Here."

Severus lowered his nose to area, snuffling. "Stronger here."

"Yes."

Severus put his paws on the stone, frowning. He pulled out his wand, conjuring a cloud of red dust, and it immediately got sucked into the cracks, marking the edges to a definite door. "Alohomora."

The stone crackled and creaked, moving backwards and then to the side, exposing a pathway. A piece of parchment was posted on the wall.

"Educational Decree 25636," Severus read. "Creation of Inquisitorial Chambers."

"What?" Hermione said, boggling. She pressed her face to the parchment, squinting at it. "Physical persuasion? Does this mean— torture?"

Snape nodded. He sent a Patronus off to Minerva, tiny and discreet in case she was with— questionable company. Hermione crept down the new hallway, nose working and mouth parted as she scented further back in her mouth. She picked up the pace, but Snape tugged on her tail.

"Careful," he warned. "There could be traps."

Hermione slowed, radiating pure distress, but Snape smelled it too: blood.

Metallic, astringent— _fresh_.

They pressed by boxes marked 'supplies', and Snape carefully moved to open it with magic so he didn't have to stand close to it. Pristine writing quills sat on top. Hermione peered over the top of the box and snarled. Severus nodded grimly in agreement, baring his teeth slightly.

"Dark magic." Hermione's eyes had a bright golden glow to them.

"Yes," Severus answered.

Hermione looked further down the confining hall. "Kingsley is in here— somewhere."

"We must go very slowly," Severus warned. "Even more so now that we know Dark magic is involved."

Hermione nodded solemnly. She rubbed up against him, placing her tail in his paw for reassurance. He followed her, keeping close. They came to a round room, yet there were no other doors save for the one leading back to the hall. The room was a nauseating shade of pink, lined with plush chairs and a large desk. There was a giant moving poster of Minister Cornelius Fudge looming over the entire room.

Hermione looked back and forth, ears laid back flat against her head. There were lines upon lines of plates on the wall, all of them had kittens on them. The kittens mewled loudly, filling the chamber with their obnoxious faux feline cries. Hermione's lips pulled back from her teeth and she roared at them. The kittens immediately fled the plates in terror.

"So much for subtlety," Severus said.

Hermione flattened her ears and hung her head. "Sorry."

Snape just shrugged. "They were already sounding the alarm."

Hermione sniffed the air. "I still smell Kingsley."

"I do too. Here, let me teach you something."

Hermione padded over, interested.

"You know the feeling when someone is Disillusioned nearby, yes?"

Hermione nodded.

"Concentrate on that feeling and sense it further out," Snape guided her. "As you see the room, make the image in your mind overlay it."

Hermione closed her eyes and concentrated. The sun disc over her head glowed steadily, and then she opened her eyes. Her eyes were like suns in the dark of space, filling the room with a fiery brilliance. "There," she said. "The hidden door is over there."

Snape nodded. "Good."

Hermione snuffled his face. "Really?"

Snape waved his wand toward the wall and it shimmered, warped, and then snapped, exposing an open door leading to another adjoining room. They slowly walked into the next room, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the switch in brightness.

Hermione rushed in when she saw Kingsley suspended in some sort of magical netting. The magic surged and lashed out, throwing Hermione against the far wall. She smashed into it with a grunt of pain, sliding down.

Snape rushed to her side, but a tendril of magic wrapped around him like the feeder tentacle of the giant squid and then flung him against the opposite wall. He roared in pain.

"Hem, hem, hem," Umbridge's sickeningly girlish voice cut through the darkness like nails on a chalkboard. "You think you're oh-so-smart, but you're not." She clutched some sort of ornate dagger and flung it against the wall where it embedded itself.

An energy tether crackled and snapped as it dragged Viktor by the neck and bound him, leaving him hanging by his neck against the wall. He pried at the tether with his hands, legs kicking.

Hermione looked from the bound Kingsley, who was bleeding profusely, to Viktor then to Severus. Her eyes filled with fire that consumed her pupils and moved outward. Hermione roared, leaping towards Umbridge, but Umbridge threw something at her that exploded into a nest of tangled vines that wrapped around the lioness and squeezed tightly. A Dark Weaver spiderling leapt off Hermione's head and landed on Umbridge's face, and Dolores screamed, grabbing the spider in her hand and squeezing before smashing the spiderling against the wall once, twice, and again before throwing it on the ground and stomping on it. The spiderling let out a single rattling wheeze before going limp.

Hermione roared, straining against the tethers, but they tightened over her and her muzzle like devil's snare, forcing her jaws shut.

Dolores stomped the spider once again for good measure and tugged on her collar. "Thank you all for volunteering yourselves and making my life so much— easier. Your little tinker, tinker, tinkering in places where you don't belong. Perhaps, I should thank you. After all, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten that delightful little knife off of Bellatrix Lestrange, or this wonderful restraint that Auror Shacklebolt is modeling for us. All of these nice, useful toys with real power within them. And you—"

Dolores smiled, and it was not a nice smile. "You are going to summon the others to me so I can make sure that Dumbledore can't ever usurp Cornelius' power."

Hermione stared at Dolores hatefully, but Snape's muzzle twisted in disgust. "You are using Dark magic to protect that pompous bag of wind?"

"You will not speak ill of Cornelius!"

She touched a crystal that was floating in the room and Kingsley let out a scream of agony. A beam shot out from him and caught Severus and Hermione and Viktor. They all cried out together. Tendrils of red and green energy zapped back and forth from them and concentrated into a focused ray in the middle of the room.

They all screamed and roared together as the air smelled of ozone.

Blam.

Blam.

 **BLAM.**

 **BLAM!**

Dark magic tored into each victim and gained power through their pain and torment.

Dolores was laughing maniacally, spinning in the wake of the power.

 **Fsssssshooooooooooooomm!**

The room was suddenly filled with utter blackness and the thunderous roar of power.

Ting.

Taaating.

TING.

Clunk.

 **Hssssssssssssssss!**

 **Thud.**

A rain of objects landed on top of Dolores Umbridge: a ring, a jeweled diadem, a locket, a cup. Then, just as she reeled from that, a gigantic(highly brassed-off) snake that made an anaconda look like a mere garter snake landed on top of her with a violent hiss.

The snake spun around, staring directly at Umbridge. Its maw opened exposing multiple rows of backward-pointing fangs.

Then it struck.

Once.

Twice.

Again!

And again!

The snake ripped into Umbridge as if it was using its fangs to tenderise her.

 **HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! KERTHWACK!**

Thwaaaack!

 **SSSsssSSSSss. THWACK!**

Then, with an even quicker motion, the huge snake squeezed steadily until Umbridge moved no more.

There was a strange whistling sound as a whirling vortex opened above the giant snake and Harry Potter (and his bed) fell out, landing squarely on top of the snake's head with a heavy _THUMP_.

Hermione roared a warning, and Harry looked around, completely disoriented. Marcus leapt off Harry's shoulder and quickly wove a blindfold over the snake while simultaneously trying to clamp the huge serpent's mouth shut, but he only succeeded in managing half the job, rendering the serpent blind— and even angrier.

Marcus went flying off the thrashing snake with a faint, "Eeeee!" His body smashed into the wall, and the spiderling slid down the wall to the floor and was still.

Harry made the mistake of making a noise, and the snake snapped around to focus on him, jaws open to strike.

Harry looked to Hermione desperately, and their eyes met.

Hermione's eyes bled into pure gold as her sun disc sent beams of vibrant sunlight to Severus, Viktor, and Kingsley. Suddenly, there was a loud, joined roar as Kingsley broke free from his tethers with a scream, using all of his strength to hold the snake's jaws shut. His body was becoming brighter and brighter until one couldn't even look at him.

 **ROARRRR!**

A mahogany male lion with a black mane sank his fangs into the snake's face with a loud **crack** as his rear legs pistoned back and then raked down the snake's underbelly. Severus joined him, using his jaws to crush the middle of the serpent's spine. Hermione stood on her hind legs, seemingly growing taller. Her sun disc was blinding as her body emanated pure sunlight. Her hand-paw reached out towards Harry, the tip of her claw touching his scar and filling it with radiance.

There was a wind unlike any other, spinning the walls of a hurricane around the eye, an area of comparative calm. Black clouds of screaming skulls billowed out of the objects as the sunlight in Harry's scar spread to each one.

There were screams coming from the objects in question, all of them were filled with unmistakeable rage and indignation, as if they _knew_ they had been beaten at their own game.

"Dolores Umbridge," Hermione's voice said, but it was warped and twisted with the echo of other voices behind it. "Your heart is to be judged against the feather of Ma'at, for your wickedness has awoken me and drawn my wrath."

Sunlight erupted from Hermione's sun disc and her eyes, her entire body seeming to tower over and fill up the room. Her lips pulled back from pearly white dagger-teeth, and she smiled wickedly. "If it were up to me, I would cast away your heart for Ammit to devour— now, but all souls deserve but one chance to prove themselves worthy before the gods."

Hermione gave a slow, leonine blink. "But, since I am _not_ completely unfair, I will give you the forty-two divine principles of Ma'at that you may recite them to the gods." Hermione's expression was utterly serene as she placed the scroll in Umbridge's trembling hands.

"I didn't die! The snake couldn't kill me!"

Hermione's tongue idly flicked over her fangs. "Would you like to bet your life on that?"

"Y-you are just a girl! You cannot fool _**me!**_ " Dolores shrieked. "These are mere parlor tricks!"

Hermione's paw-hands stroked Severus' and Kingsley's velvety ears. The former was kneeling down in a squat, and Kingsley sitting. They growled, rumbling as their lips pulled back in a grimace, but they did not show any resistance towards her touches. "You would rather have fate judge you?"

"No one but the Ministry has the power to judge me," Dolores hissed furiously.

Hermione's eyes flashed. She picked up the still bodies of the two valiant arachnids and lightly blew on them. The bodies shimmered with sunlight as their crunched exoskeletons instantly mended and reformed "The goddess Neith favours the spider as a spinner and weaver of destiny. Athena pitied Arachne when she took her own life, transforming her into a spider after her arrogance to the gods proved to be her end, when the enraged Athena cursed her to live with unending guilt— something she could not do."

"I am guilty of nothing!"

"No, you _feel_ guilty of nothing," Hermione corrected. "I tell you what. Recite but one of the negative confessions to the laws of Ma'at, and will let you walk out of here to whatever fate you think you deserve— or take the judgement of these two, whom you have assaulted— or this lion, who now walks with my Pride as one of Mine."

Kingsley snarled in response.

Umbridge opened the scrolls detailing the laws of Ma'at, and frowned. "What sort of trickery is this?"

"Those are the laws of Ma'at."

"That is just a bunch of pictographs!"

"Hieroglyphs."

"Nonsense!"

"It is your choice— the parchment, the arachnids, or the newest lion in my Pride." Hermione's eyes seemed to look through Umbridge as her solar disc flashed. "Or you may return to your body," she said.

Umbridge just stared at her. "I'm just fine."

Hermione pointed one claw down and behind Dolores.

Umbridge slowly turned around to see the lower half of her body protruding from a gigantic reptilian mouth. Her distinctive pink cardigan was easily visible between its jaws.

" _ **No!**_ This is some kind of _**trick!**_ " She picked up the wand clutched tightly in "her" body's hand. She aimed it at Hermione. " _ **Bombarda Maxima!"**_

The room shook as it began to collapse, and Umbridge went diving for the exit hall, laughing hysterically.

* * *

"I…" Dumbledore stared at the rubble-strewn hallway where a gaping hole seemed to appear out of nowhere, leaving a huge crater filled with random debris and storage boxes. "I have _no_ idea what just happened here."

The teachers milled about the scene, scratching their heads in confusion.

Albus held out a cage with a frantic, terrified pink-on-pink-on-more-pink spider. Bright pink eyes and pink venom-tipped, pale pink fangs adorned the spider that was going berserk, throwing itself repeatedly against the side of the cage. "Severus?"

"Yes, Headmaster?"

"Care to explain this?"

"I fear I am not qualified even to try, sir."

"Is there anyone who _might_ be qualified to do so?" Albus sighed.

Kingsley yawned widely, showing all of his pearly whites.

Dumbledore stared at Kingsley. "And I am to believe that this— rather peculiar transformation was entirely consensual?"

Kingsley flicked his tail and gave the aged wizard a leonine smile.

Dumbledore sighed again. "I have the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic under some sort of curse after she summoned a number of Dark artefacts into the room by forcibly binding an Auror, a teacher, and two apprentices and then draining their magic— and they all expelled a cloud of corrupted soulmagic sometime before Dolores tripped over a spider and impaled herself on a Dark Weaver's fangs and transformed herself into— _this?_ "

"That's exactly what happened, sir," Harry said, rubbing aside his messy black fringe to reveal a now-pristine forehead. The distinctive lightning bolt scar was gone.

The teachers stared at the pile of objects— a ring, a goblet, a diadem, a snake's skeleton, a locket, a curved knife, a few ominous-looking statues, and a torn pink cardigan. Flitwick stared at the pink spider, noting the dark pink ankh shape on its abdomen. "I'm starting to think that this outcome was the result of some sort of divine intervention, Albus."

"You can't be serious, Filius," Dumbledore said, frowning at the diminutive Charms professor. "It's a spider."

"An unnervingly _familiar_ colour of pink spider, Headmaster." Flitwick gave Albus meaningful eyebrows.

Dumbledore grimaced and eyed the frantic spider for a long moment. "If this _is_ actually Dolores, then what in Merlin's name am I going to tell Minister Fudge?"

The spider in the cage continued to slam itself against the walls of the cage.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Well, since Kingsley here seems to be a member of the the victim list, I suppose I do need to send word to the Auror office on his behalf."

* * *

 _ **Internal Memo**_

 _ **To:**_ _Unspeakables, all_

 _ **From:**_ _HBOY Amelia Bones_

 _While the appropriate cell is being constructed at Azkaban, Madam Umbridge is in holding with the Aurors. There will be at least two of us there to assist guarding her until she is moved to her permanent placement. Be aware that we are not so worried that she will succeed in escaping on her own but that someone will attempt to liberate her— or assassinated. Either is possible at this point._

 _With Kings having recently undergone some major lifestyle changes, he is now the permanent posted Auror at Hogwarts. We are encouraging him and his fellow pride-mates to pursue Animagus meditations in order to offer a possible reversion, if only temporary, for certain social obligations. Head Auror Scrimgeour has taken charge of the relevant witness testimonies, and the memories have been sealed in labeled vials after the closed Wizengamot session, due to the unforeseen divine influence in Umbridge's punishment._

 _We have people sorting through a virtual mountain of evidence and Dark artefacts that were confiscated from Madam Umbridge's various hidden caches throughout the Ministry. Minister Fudge has been kept under close watch since his connection to Umbridge has been rather suspicious, at the very least. We have yet to decrypt the notebook, which Master Verboten believes to be a detailed log of Umbridge's connections as well as a record of potential blackmail material. As Umbridge was notoriously active in the Minister's personal and public affairs, we are taking our time to make sure the evidence is perfect._

 _On a bright note, the Hogwarts Pride has sent us their thanks for our gift of the herd of Greater Scottish Ridgeback Oxen and they are most appreciative of the swift reproductive rate that most similar kinds of livestock do not have. The Headmaster has also sent along his hopes that this will sufficiently occupy their grounds and gamekeeper so that future incidents involving illegal breeding activities will not be finding their way to my desk._

 _We can only hope, right? Bad enough that the entire blast-ended skrewt fiasco just missed sending that insufferable man to Azkaban, and let's not even get into the entire Acromantulas in the Dark Forest._

 _Speaking of dangerous creatures, I have authorised the use of deadly force in dealing with the Acromantula colony in said forest since they are not only invasive but threatening the lives of the native centaurs and even the young hippogriffs. While Hagrid assures me that they wouldn't harm any of his friends, a witness account from Harry Potter including the memories viewed by Pensieve have shown otherwise._

 _In compensation for his not only introducing a foreign XXXXX spider into a forest next to a_ _ **SCHOOL**_ _, Mr Hagrid is being given the option to serve out his time that would otherwise be served in Azkaban tending to the ridgeback oxen. Rumour has it that the Headmistress of Beauxbatons has offered him a job in France, but there seems to be a problem with his determination to "import" his creatures to the new location as I understand that France has much stricter regulations, particularly with regard to magical creatures._

 _Madam Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank has stated that she would be willing to take on the CoMC position in Hagrid's stead as she is familiar with Hogwarts already from her teaching experience there. We may just hire her anyway to tend the oxen to make sure they thrive, as she will not forget their purpose and the added strain that the animals are as sharp as a box of smooth river stones and tend to kill themselves by walking headlong into whatever danger._

 _Oh, Master Cooper wants to remind us all that the Hogwarts Pride has invited us all to the ox roast this weekend. It will be shared with the students on the grounds, so everyone wear your civvies and have fun, no talking about shop, please. Do enjoy yourselves, though. We'll be alternating shifts so everyone can go._

 _And to the person who put the giant chocolate frog in the Auror holding cells, ha-ha. Don't do it again. You about gave poor Cynthia a heart condition._

 _Yours in insanity,_

 _Amelia Bones, HBOY_

* * *

Hermione poked her head up over the table to peer at Minerva and Kingsley. Minerva was tenderly ruffling his ears and mane, much to Kingsley's obvious pleasure. The mother Dark Weaver tapped Hermione's ears, and she flicked them, causing the spider to bounce up and down between her ears merrily.

"See something you like?" Hermione chuckled to Kingsley.

"Mrrrrr," Kinglsey replied.

Hermione looked to Minerva and then back to Kings. She looped her tail over her back and then bound-pounced on Viktor. They tumbled together, making hay, and then tag-team squished Severus between them.

"Hrr," Severus said. "Are you quite through harassing the lovebirds?"

Hermione wore her very best halo.

He stared off at the edge of Black Lake, tilting his head as he saw Narcissa sitting with Lucius and Draco. Both Draco and his mum had their arms around the white lion's lush mane. Draco buried his face into his father's mane and seemed to let go of the tension that was troubling him for most of the year.

Severus grunted, giving a soft sigh as he nodded. "It's good to see them bonding again."

Hermione looked up to Severus. "He probably wishes he could talk to them."

Severus shook his head. "It's probably better that he can't. It forces him to listen to their concerns, but it also forces them to pay attention to him more closely. If he was really needed help, he would ask us to translate for him. Eventually— hopefully— he will be able to greet them on two legs instead of four, even if it is but for a little time."

Hermione nodded. She looked down towards the lake with a little sadness. "I fear my memories of him are not as good as yours."

Severus rubbed her ears. "Draco has suffered a great deal from the realisation that what he thought he knew was not the truth. It did not help that Lucius made sure to rigidly keep up appearances to save his family in case of the possible return of the Dark Lord."

Hermione snuffled his hands, bumping into them to encourage him to pet her. He scowled down at her, but his hand did exactly what she wanted.

Snape sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

Hermione parted her jaws in a leonine smile.

Snape's expression softened. He rubbed his cheek with his claws and shook his head. "I know your ideal day ends with a lazy bask under a shady tree."

"It begins that way too," Hermione replied, tail looping. "Simple pleasures."

Severus looked thoughtful. "Do you remember much when She speaks through you?"

Hermione sat down as she looked over the lake.

"Somewhat," she replied. "It's like she steps in, and I'm slipping backstage, watching from the sides."

"Does that bother you?" Severus asked.

Hermione leaned on his hip, pressing her head to it. "No, She is wrathful, but—"

Severus peered down into her face.

"It's like she's my mum when she's getting all mad for my sake. When I first told her about the Mudblood thing that Draco— well you know." Hermione sighed. "It feels good to be loved enough that someone is willing to throw themselves into the fray for you."

Severus stared toward the edge of the lake where Draco was, eyes narrowing. His hand clenched into a fist. "He should not have used such words."

Hermione thumped his hip with her head. "It's sweet of you to care about me."

Severus frowned, struggling. "How could I not? We shared—"

"Our lifetimes," Hermione said, giving his paw a slurp. "I think I got the better deal. I got to graduate on the fast track."

"And a lifetime of tortured memories including my drunken father and a psychopathic Dark lord," Severus mused.

"It explains why you are such a strong individual," Hermione said, her tail thumping into him.

Severus frowned. "You really think that, don't you?"

Hermione rumbled. "Of course. Why would I say what I don't mean?"

Severus snorted. "Because you're human?"

Hermione took his tail in her mouth and worried it. "That's debateable."

Snape knelt, pressing his furred forehead to hers. "You, Miss Granger, are probably the most human being I know. After all that has happened, you still carry the bright spark of humanity I have yet to know in any other."

Hermione gave Snape an affectionate lick on the nose just before her clawless paw gently swatted at his cheek. She stared deep into his remarkable black eyes, framed even more by his pitch black fur. "Do you really think such things exist in a vacuum, Master?" She parted her jaws in a lion smile. "If there is any great thing to be found in me, it is because there are people like _you_ to provide inspiration."

Hermione nuzzled his paw and gave it a lick. "I may be more than I think I am, but you are so much more than you believe yourself to be. And what you don't seem to realise is—what a brave and brilliant man you are." Hermione perked, eyes sparkling. "Not that you like to share that with anyone." She gave him an affectionate tail thwap.

Hermione's expression seemed to sadden, the glistening in her eyes and the warmth of her mind dulling. "I would have moved Heaven and Earth to have a friend like you not so long ago. I fear I don't have such a great track record with best friends. Two out of three of mine seemed to have wanted me— out of the way."

She looked up at him, attempting to chase the haunted look off her face. "Sometimes the ones we think care about us are the ones we really shouldn't have trusted. I can only imagine what Mr and Mrs Weasley are going through—though I _did_ get that rather charming Howler from Mrs Weasley before the trial and the Pensieve viewing."

Suddenly a silver lioness dashed across the green, being chased by a gleeful Kingsley.

Severus arched a brow and stared at Hermione.

"Don't look at me. _**I**_ didn't do it!"

"I don't believe you."

"It takes consent," Hermione pointed out. "You _**know**_ that."

Severus sighed. "I think Hogwarts is going to the lions."

Hermione rubbed her head insistently against his leg, nudging him slightly off-kilter. "Just the way I like it."

"You are incorrigible."

Viktor gave out a chuffing call, his rumbling half-roar calling to her, and Hermione bounded over to join him. They tumbled with each other, roaring and batting at each other before running full tilt towards the lake and jumping in with a loud _**sploosh**_.

The white lion dripped water as Narcissa flapped her arms around and tried to wring out her clothes. Draco, on the other hand, had somehow managed to avoid the flood. Lucius cocked his rear leg just so and then very deliberately had a muscle spasm, sending Draco tumbling head over heels into the water as well. Then Lucius roared and took a flying leap into the water, making the largest wave yet. Narcissa sputtered indignantly, but then she started to laugh too— just before Kingsley and Minerva bounded into the water and join the fun. A raft of linked Dark Weavers floated in the water, rescued by the ever-helpful giant squid. They gathered together on the squid, watching all the "fun" going on below them.

The other children ran up to the lake and dove in as well, cheering happily. Some of the children used the surprisingly buoyant Dark Weavers as floatation devices.

"Severus," Albus said, walking up.

"Yes, Headmaster?"

"You wouldn't happen to know _why_ Hagrid is currently holed up in his hut attempting to stuff a giant spider into a box?"

Severus blinked slowly. "Only one?"

Albus gave Snape a sidelong glance. "There is another?"

Snape sniffed. "It takes two to make a breeding pair. And you are already well-aware that Hagrid encourages his beasts to be fruitful and multiply."

Dumbledore stroked his beard. "France has very strict rules when it comes to magical beasts— _all_ beasts— crossing the borders unauthorised, and I sincerely doubt that they are going to approve of a mated pair of Acromantulas."

"No, I don't imagine they will," Severus agreed.

Albus narrowed his eyes. "You knew, but you didn't tell him."

"Headmaster, since when does Hagrid ever listen to anyone, really? Even you?"

Albus was quiet for a moment. "You just want to see him _cry_ , Severus."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "No, Headmaster. No one wants to see that man cry. It's traumatising. For everyone."

Albus seemed to evaluate the truthfulness of his Potions master. "Hrm."

"Why Headmaster, you would think you didn't believe me," Snape drawled.

"I happen to know you are an excellent liar, Severus."

"Sticks and stones, Headmaster," Snape said, using his claws to scratch the side of his face. "Sticks and stones."

* * *

"Hey, Harry."

" _ **Hermione!"**_ The young black-haired wizard threw himself at Hermione, and she oofed loudly, smiling.

"It's _**you!**_ It's _**really**_ you!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione chuckled. "It's not permanent, but it is a bit easier to communicate."

"You look—" Harry flushed.

"Old."

"I didn't say—"

"You didn't have to, Harry," Hermione said with a sad smile.

Harry hugged her again. "I didn't know, Hermione, I swear! I promise, if I'd known—"

Hermione shook her head. "Harry, it's not your fault. We're a part of Hogwarts now, and it feels— good. Right. I'm not saying they did the right thing, but the blame is not yours, Harry. What happened—" Hermione tilted her head, smiling. "We made our choices. It was _our_ choice to be this way to protect Hogwarts."

Harry fidgeted. "Even the part where you're sharing a body with a vengeful Egyptian sun-goddess?"

Hermione snorted. "It's not a curse, Harry. We are at peace with each other. It's not a bad thing at all." She nudged Harry with her elbow. "How is living with Alastor Moody?"

"He's pretty funny when he's not grousing at you," Harry said with a smile. "I was worried at first, when they said Sirius was still in therapy from being in Azkaban for so long. He has Remus to help him though. I think— they both need it, yeah? And maybe I need someone like Moody telling me when my shite stinks and when I'm just blowing stuff out my arse."

Hermione snorted. "Maybe."

"He's a bit of a curmudgeon, but— I really like him," Harry said. "And, I'm starting to realise there were a lot of things I just made up to make myself feel better. Moody told me the truth about my dad and all the shite he stirred up with his friends back in the day. He even said—"

Hermione waited in the silence.

"He said he was wrong about Snape."

" _Professor_ Snape, Harry."

Harry looked a bit frustrated. "Professor Snape. Some things don't change."

Hermione smiled at him.

Harry chuckled, shaking his head. "I never thought I'd be away from my aunt and uncle."

"I'm glad you are," Hermione said. "They are— horrible examples of human beings." Her gaze seemed far away.

"You know them— from before don't you?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded. "They've always been— nasty, horrible people."

"Is it," Harry began, "creepy living someone else's life— I mean—" Harry's face twisted with conflict. "He's, uh— well, a bloke."

Hermione eyed Harry with amusement. "Are you saying I can't handle knowing what goes on in a man's head?"

Harry waved his hands. "No! I mean— nngah! I mean. Well, it's Snape! I mean Moody told me he was wrong about him, and I realise he's not the person I thought he was, but—" Harry stammered all over himself. "Permission to extract foot from mouth, please?"

"By all means," Hermione said, eyebrow raising.

Harry slumped. "I mean that I wouldn't want you knowing all the stuff that went on in my head. I don't even want to relive what's in my head. I can't imagine inflicting someone with it."

Hermione put her hand on Harry's shoulder. "He didn't expect to live. I would have been the only one that knew the truth of who he was and what he had done to keep us all safe. I feel— honoured to know and horrible that I ever judged him poorly."

"You didn't tell him you set his robes on fire did you?" Harry asked.

Hermione arched a brow. "He knows everything I do, Harry."

Harry's eyes bugged out. "Everything?!"

Hermione gave Harry the eye.

"I'm so dead," Harry whinged.

Hermione snorted, a surprisingly Snapeish sound.

"You did that on purpose," Harry accused.

"Hn?"

"Sound like him," he replied, instinctively shuddering.

Hermione chuckled, a warm sound that was so distinctively Hermione. "I'm sure the Headmaster is equally traumatised when Professor Snape sounds a little too much like me."

Harry's eyes widened. "Really?"

"As I understand it, the Headmaster thinks I got the better deal." Hermione shrugged. "But he's a little biased. He's known Professor Snape longer. I guess the change is— startling."

"He looks startling!" Harry exclaimed. "He's even taller than he was before. He stares at you with the the face of a lion with those deep black eyes and mane— and his paws. Whenever he demonstrates a potion, I keep staring at them!"

Hermione eyed Harry.

"He's scarier now!" Harry protested.

Hermione poked Harry with one finger to the shoulder. "As someone with an intimate knowledge of how things can blow up and kill you, I think he's justified in scaring people into paying attention."

Harry shook his head.

"Besides, isn't Alastor Moody's demeanor what finally got you to get your head out of your arse?"

Harry glared at her, and then realised she was grinning at him. He let out a sigh and a laugh. "Why are you always right?"

Hermione smiled slyly. "A lifetime and more of experience."

"Gah!" Harry moaned. "I'm doomed!"

"Only two years to go," Hermione said with a wink.

"It's not fair, I want to wake up one day and just be able to pass my N.E.W.T.s," Harry complained.

"Harry Potter, are you implying I couldn't pass my N.E.W.T.s on my own merits?"

Harry balked. " _ **No!**_ I didn't mean it like _**that!**_ "

Hermione gave Harry the fish-eye.

"I _**swear!**_ "

Hermione's expression switched back to amusement.

Harry smiled wryly. "I've been sticking my foot in it a lot lately. Especially around Moody."

"You give any thought to becoming Moody for real?"

Harry nodded. "Do you think it's selfish of me to _want_ to be adopted? Be just— Harry. Harry Moody."

"Well, you _are_ moody."

Harry snorted. "Totally saw that coming."

Hermione grinned. "Harry, you should do what makes you and Moody the happiest. If you really _do_ care for him, and we all know that he does, then let your heart decide, yes?"

"You don't think my mum and dad would be ashamed of me?"

Hermione shook her head. "Harry, your parents gave their lives so you could make your own choices. What they may have thought of those choices doesn't really matter. You have to do what _you_ want. What you feel you need. You are living your life, not them. Even if they were alive right now— you would still have to decide what _you_ want to be. And if they were anything like any parent, they would probably want you to be something else. Look at poor Neville."

Harry nodded in understanding. "I want to be Moody's son," Harry said. "Did you know—"

Hermione touched his arm when Harry trailed off. He smiled at her.

"Did you know that Sirius admitted to me that he wasn't the best parental option for me and he understood if I wanted to be adopted? He did say— he'd like to be the "fun uncle" when he's out of therapy. Be a part of my life."

Hermione smiled. "I think that would be good. That and Alastor would totally kick his arse if he tried anything."

Harry busted out laughing. "So true."

Harry tilted his head. "How's your parents? Do they— know?"

Hermione sighed. "They're really struggling. It's hard for them to wrap their minds around the daughter that is a lion— an animal. The Headmaster insisted they be updated regularly since they were still legally responsible for me. And well— let's just say my parents' experience with lions were from BBC documentaries with David Attenborough, and they think I was shagging male lions while in heat while other male lions beat each other up so they could—"

Harry stared at Hermione disbelievingly.

"You know how when you're really little, talking animals are in children's stories? I mean, there is Aslan, but that's also a kid's book—" Hermione fidgeted. "My parents had to sit there and listen to the Headmaster tell them that a lioness was their daughter, but she could understand English but not talk to them— and this tall, black lion that stood on two legs was my master. Oh, and I was apprenticed to him, something that they weren't exactly keen on either. As you well know exactly how intimidating Professor Snape can be even before he was a magical guardian lion."

Harry shuddered. "I'm sorry, but— he's just really, really intimidating."

Hermione sighed. "He's been through a _lot_ , Harry. I'd say almost worse than you because he had a mum and dad that made the Dursleys seem like Parent of the Year candidates."

"Really?" Harry looked utterly horrified. "I—" He stared at his lap. "I guess I never thought he was anything but a horrible, Gryffindor-hating git— _ **OW!**_ " Marcus chirred at Harry, having roped the wizard's ear with silk and jerked on it to get his attention. "I'm sorry!" Harry whinged.

Hermione chuckled at the spider-intervention. The mother Dark Weaver seemed to shake her head as she huddled on Hermione's shoulder, her normal place between Hermione's ears having disappeared due to Hermione's current lack of a leonine shape. Hermione took her into her arms and cuddled her, and the mother spider gave a soft sigh of pure happiness.

"Hermione."

"Yes, Harry."

"You're cuddling a giant arachnid."

"So are you, Harry."

"Maybe we aren't so different after all."

Hermione chuckled. "You _still_ have to do your homework, Harry."

Harry lay back in the grass. "Fft."

Silence.

"Hermione?"

"Hrm?"

"Could you help me study for my Potions test?"

Hermione flopped back in the grass too. "I suppose."

* * *

"For Merlin's sake, man. Pull yourself together," Filch admonished Hagrid as he sat on his stoop, sniffling miserably. He nudged the detention students over to him and shook his head.

Hagrid, ever the large and surprisingly over-emotional, managed to scare the first year children more than many other far more sinister dangers. He sniffed, wiping his face with his coat sleeve. "Me friends are all gone! What do yeh expect?"

"Make less dangerous friends," Filch said, unsympathetic.

"They wouldn't have harmed anyone!"

"They were giant man-eating spiders, man!" Filch retorted. "What did you expect the Ministry to do after you exposed them all by trying to smuggle them into France?"

"I'd expect 'em to respect me things!"

Filch threw up his hands and stormed back up towards the castle. "Why don't you just have some respect for the people who live here too, Hagrid, and realize not everyone is blessed with your thick skin, eh?!"

Mrs Norris hissed and turned to follow Filch, her fur standing on end.

The gaggle of first years shifted nervously, unsure as to what the right course of action was—flee back to the castle or wait for the half-giant to stop sobbing hysterically.

By the time Lucius arrived to escort the children back to the school, he had first-years clinging tightly to his mane and swearing they'd _never_ do anything bad again. Lucius celebrated when he returned to the pride by soaking himself in the bath to rid himself of the scent and residue of clingy young witches and wizards and— whatever it was they were covered in thanks to Hagrid's evening of detention.

It took about an hour of leonine begging to get back into Hermione's good graces to allow him to sleep with the rest of the pride— which amounted to a huge smoked sockeye salmon that he may or may not have pinned a hapless young house-elf with his paw to acquire.

Hermione wasn't complaining, and neither was Viktor, who happily shared the spoils with her.

* * *

"Hagrid, I know you care about your animals, but your position here at Hogwarts requires you to care about the school's animals over that of special projects, and you know I haven't authorised anything."

"But Headmaster!" Hagrid protested.

"Hagrid, when you set Aragog free in the forest, that set into motion a chain of events that caused me to ban children from going into the forest above and beyond the normal respect for the centaurs' territory. That was because of you. Now, I have supported you for a long time. I have tried to show you leniency when all the world wanted to send you off to Azkaban, so don't mess with me now. You are— have been— quite upset because you failed to do in France what you did back here in Scotland: introduce a highly dangerous magical spider species into lands that it is not native to. But you couldn't let that be the last. You smuggled in a mate and filled the entire forest with man-eating spiders."

"He _**deserved**_ to have a mate! He _**deserved**_ to have someone that understood him!"

"Hagrid, you must realise that you are living at a school. One that is attended by hundreds of young children. Fully human children who are much more fragile than you are. Now, I do respect that you care deeply for your creatures, but you were placed here in the position to take care of the school's creatures as well as the school's students. This is our most important task here at Hogwarts. To be there when any small cry for help rings out in the darkness." Albus stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Now, I think it's about time for you to grow up, Hagrid. I've coddled you long enough. I've covered up your mistakes because I believed in you, and I still do. But you _**must**_ put aside this obsession of yours and take care of our school. It is your job. It is our collective responsibility to the children here. To the magical world. That is far bigger than us. Bigger than you."

Hagrid turned away, shaking his head stubbornly— refusing to believe.

"Rubeus," Albus said softly. "That night you were arrested, you sent Messrs Potter and Weasley into the forest to follow the spiders."

"Well, it proved I didna do it, didn't it?"

"True, but— do you want to know the real reason why it didn't get you out right away?"

"They didn't believe the kids!"

Albus shook his head. "No, it's because I couldn't tell anyone without also admitting that they had almost died when Aragog sent his many children— to _**eat**_ them, Hagrid."

"What?" Hagrid balked. "No! Aragog would _**never**_ hurt me! He would never—"

"He would never hurt _**you**_ , Hagrid," Albus said. "But he had no qualms at all about attacking and eating young children, and you— you brought in a breeding partner that made it all happen, so how do you think that would have gone over to the Wizengamot?"

"No, he wouldn't ever have—"

"Hagrid, it _**did**_ happen. It did." Albus stroked his beard. "France wasn't being mean to you, Rubeus, they were simply being honest. In our magical world we have fantastic beasts of all kinds, but not all of them are harmless. There are those who make them seem so, yes, but the good ones still respect the danger. How would you have felt if you had come back to find out your 'friends' killed Harry? Killed anyone?"

Hagrid stared at his beard, silent. "They never hurt me."

"No, I don't suppose they did," Albus said. "But that is not the point. Because of your history, I've convinced the Board to let you keep your job as gamekeeper here at Hogwarts, and they have agreed to allow you to tend the herd of Scottish Ridgeback oxen, but I am asking you, Rubeus, to reevaluate what is most important because I fear I cannot protect you anymore if you will not follow the rules. So no more dragon eggs, Asian man-eating arachnids, manticores— anything that can get loose and kill a child. And when I say child, I mean a toddler. If it isn't safe around a three-year-old, Hagrid, then it's not safe to be had here. The Ministry has already had to deal with Fluffy after he attacked a family visiting Hogsmeade and decided to talk a walk out on the forest trails—"

"What do you _**mean**_ they dealt with Fluffy?!" Hagrid exclaimed, pulling his beard.

"Seeing as he was not socialised to be around people, believed the entire forest was his territory, attacked the centaurs that were out hunting, and attacked that family, the Ministry stepped in and shipped him off to Greece for rehabilitation— Hagrid, listen to me now," Dumbledore said. "There is no longer a war. I don't require a beast to watch over the Stone anymore. We don't need dangerous challenges for the TriWizard Tournament. Hogwarts has a healthy pride of magical lions patrolling every day. There is no need for experimental breeding, so please, do what needs to be done."

"Ye want me to haff no friends!" Hagrid whinged.

"No, Hagrid," Albus said. "I want you to have more friends among the people here."

* * *

"Really?" Seamus said, peering over the chessboard. "Spider chess?"

The dual-coloured spiderlings sat in their places upon the board, each sporting crowns or perched on horses, playing the part of chess pieces.

"Why not?" Neville said, picking up a fluffy spiderling and moving him.

The spider pounced on its brother. "Gotcha, Iktomi!"

"Awww, got me," Iktomi pouted, scuttling off the board. The spiders on the sidelines cheered on Neville and Harry.

"What ever happened to regular wizard chess?" Seamus complained.

"Spider chess is so much less violent," Harry said, moving a spiderling.

She pounced her brother with a squeak, and the other spiderling scuttled off the board.

Neville moved a spider. "Checkmate!"

All the spiders on the opposing team played dead, making dramatic death rattles.

Harry laughed. "Good one, Neville." Marcus hopped off his shoulder and tended the "dead" spiderlings. They all bounced up and down and clung to his back before he scurried back up to perch on Harry's shoulder.

Moody brushed by, grunting. "Homework done?"

"Yes, Professor," the group chimed in.

"Hrrm," he replied, looking over their pile of homework. "Mr Finnigan, you will find that casting this spell will not save you from a fire curse. It will reflect back or turn you into a firefly. Not quite the look you probably want."

Seamus paled, snatching the parchment back to fix it.

Harry and Neville snickered to each other.

"Hagrid needs help moving the hippogriffs into a new paddock. Why don't you two go help him? Don't forget to bow."

The pair stood up. "Okay!" They grabbed their bags and took off out of the study hall, leaving Seamus to frantically fix his essay.

* * *

"I _like_ you!" the bright red spider with a black harp-shaped marking on his abdomen said, bouncing on all eight legs. "Will you be my friend?"

"Naw, I had a real spider for a friend, and now he's dead."

The spiderling wilted. "But— I could be your friend, and I'm not dead!"

The half-giant sighed heavily, throwing a shovel down next to the pumpkin vines. "It's just not the same. Aragog was a real spider. A _real_ friend."

Hagrid stormed into his hut, slamming the door so hard behind him that the frame cracked ominously.

The spiderling slumped, his legs curling under himself. His fur drooped messily all over his body. "Aww."

"Hey, Boris, what are you doing here?" Neville asked, scooping up the spider in his hands.

The spiderling sulked. "I tried to make friends with the big man, but he said I wasn't a _real_ spider."

"That's total rubbish," Neville answered firmly. "You're all spider and more."

Boris perked, uncurling his legs. "You really think so?"

Neville nodded.

The spiderling seemed to think on what he said. "Will _you_ be my friend?"

Neville smiled. "Of course I will."

Boris perked and scurried up Neville's arm to cling to his shoulder. He bounced up and down. "Yay!"

Suddenly a clutter of spiderlings fell from Hagrid's roof as they landed on Neville. "Us too! We want friends too!"

Thud.

Neville lay flat on his back, covered head-to-toe in fuzzy, adorable spiders.

Harry looked down at Neville as he tried to keep the baby hippogriff from eating his hair. "Gah— I am _**not**_ a ferret!"

Neville stared at Harry through the gathered spiderlings on his face, and they both busted out laughing together.

The baby hippogriff snorted as the orange spider with a jade green swirl on his abdomen clinging to his head feathers squeaked with gleeful excitement.

* * *

"Finnigan did _**what?**_ " Severus sputtered, looking over his stack of scrolls.

"He mispronounced a spell and caused the class to be overrun by a giant tsunami wave of sharks," Moody replied, utterly deadpan as he calmly poured himself a cup of tea.

Severus' eyebrow twitched.

"Can you remember what he said because that might be wery useful in combat," Viktor said, interested.

Hermione laid her head in Viktor's lap, wuffing warm air up at him.

Moody gave Viktor a look that was somewhere between "what" and "buh."

"He's right," Severus agreed. "Merlin only knows when you might need a random sharknado at your beck and call."

"Is that even a thing?!" Minerva exclaimed, making an odd face.

"Harry seems to think it would be good for a Muggle movie night," Moody said, "but he also thought the idea of one of those Muggle aeroplanes filled with snakes would make for good entertainment."

Minerva eyed Moody rather strangely.

"Don't look at _**me**_ like that, woman," Moody barked. " _ **I'm**_ not the one who did it."

"No, you just levitated a few stunned sharks into Black Lake and let the giant squid have a right feast," Minerva muttered.

"They were invasives. At least the squid appreciated them!"

Hermione's head went back and forth watching the conversation like a thrilling game of tennis— or full contact Rugby-pong.

"Oh, and we have such a dire shortage of carnivores here at Hogwarts," Severus quipped, his black eyes gleaming with mischief.

Moody glared at Severus. "I'm still not used to Hogwarts being infested with overgrown lions."

Hermione eyed Moody, furry eyebrows furrowed.

"Not infesting," Viktor corrected himt. "Protecting."

Hermione snorted in agreement.

Moody rolled his eyes. "You can't even hold a wand."

Hermione's sun disc flashed, and suddenly Moody was covered from head-to-toe in glittery pink feathers, with a pink rose between his teeth, wearing a hideous hat with a stuffed vulture on top— and sporting a pair of bright pink high heels that had him tottering around the room like a drunk.

The door to the faculty lounge opened and Moody tumbled right into a startled Albus Dumbledore's arms.

"Alastor?" Albus said, quite confused. He looked into the room and saw a bunch of lions lounging around on the furniture. "Is there something you might wish to tell me?"

"Sodding lions! Can't trust the furry bastards!" Moody groused.

Fawkes sang a rather convincing interpretation of the Imperial March from Albus' shoulder.

Dumbledore just shook his head bemusedly. "You're blaming the lions for your current very… pink condition?"

"Yes, I'm blaming—"

" _ **Dad?"**_ a wide-eyed Harry blurted, standing in the hallway with his arms full of textbooks.

"Sodding wonderful," cursed Alastor.

* * *

"So, what is this?"

"I wish I knew," Amelia said. "We're researching it in cooperation with the Scandinavian Ministry, but we have no idea what it is."

Moody stared at the amulet, narrowing his eyes. "Well it obviously protected Karkaroff from the full brunt of whatever took out the other Death Eaters."

"Master Kovachev believes that Karkaroff stole it from the archives of Durmstrang to protect himself from the Mark. It worked, sort of— but it drove him insane."

"More insane you mean," Moody said.

"Yeah." Amelia sighed and rubbed her temples. "We knew when he made that deal with the Wizengamot that he'd be running the rest of his life. But this thing—"

"Dark artefacts always have a price," Alastor said. "And the price is always dire, even if it's incredibly insidious."

Amelia put a hand on Moody's shoulder. "I know you don't like to rely on others, old friend, but maybe you should talk to Severus' apprentice, Viktor. He may know the history of this amulet as someone who lived there while Karkaroff was in power. The history, the research— none of it is helping. We just need to know if this thing is going to come back and bite us on the arse. Do we need to move him out of Mungo's? Should we set up a special high security ward in Azkaban?"

Moody frowned. "I think they should be in Azkaban— coma or no coma."

Amelia sighed. "That would take time. We're still trying to clean out the Ministry of those who are a little _too_ eager to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Dolores Umbridge. We just finished recording all of her Dark artefacts and her dirty book of misdeeds. She was _obsessed_ with keeping Fudge in power. She was going to take Dumbledore's place as Headmaster and form the Inquisitorial Squad to help her 'police Hogwarts' and 'discipline misbehaving children'."

"Did you ever manage to cure her, ah,—" Moody struggled with the right words for the situation. "Condition?"

Amelia shook her head. "No, whatever happened to turn her into that… pink monstrosity seems to be quite permanent. Has Hagrid finally gotten over the spider remov—"

" _ **No!"**_ Moody growled. "He's _**still**_ whining over it."

Amelia shook her head. "I've been trying to get Albus to put his foot down with Hagrid for years. I'm afraid that all I can hope for is that he doesn't get a child killed as a result of his sheer obliviousness." She paused.

"I know that look."

Amelia pulled out a drawer and thumbed through a number of folders. She pulled out a file and opened it, reached in and pulled out a box. She unlatched the box and opened the lid, exposing a number of vials. Taking an empty vial from her desk, she waved her wand over the full vial. A swirl of memory reached out and touched the other vial, filling it.

"Here, take this to Albus and have him show it to Hagrid the next time he throws a stink. It's a copy of Harry's memories the night he was almost killed by the Acromantulas. He gave them to us to help us get through the paperwork and red tape in order to clear the forest out. Maybe if he can't be convinced with words, he can be convinced with the actual memory that proves that his thoughtless actions almost resulted in the deaths of two students that night by sending children into the Acromantula den."

Alastor took the vial. "Fine. I'll ask the Durmstrang what he knows."

Amelia smiled. "I'm glad you see things my way."

Moody curled his lip. "You're a sodding lioness."

Amelia winked. "Not yet."

* * *

"Is— Amulet of Magyars," Viktor said. "Corrupted against its true purpose to protect holder from evil. Legend say dhis vas once in hands of great and powerful vizard who gave it to witch to show great devotion. But—" Viktor trailed off, struggling with his English. "Voman not truly love him. Love another. Brother of vizard. Vizard—wery angry. Kill brother in jealous rage, but love vitch too much to hurt her. He flee. Use blood magic from dead brother to root spell on amulet to make himself— find. Unfind. Unfindable? Not find— able. To dhis day, amulet said to contain strong protective magic to keep vizard hidden from any who seek him, but always at high cost. Durmstrang have many such things locked away as— lessons to stupid children who tink they immortal and know better than elders. Old tings… have long memories. Just as dangerous as object."

"And how do _**you**_ know about that one?" Alastor prodded, narrowing his eyes at the young Bulgarian wizard.

Viktor gave him a tight smile. "Vas once stupid youth. Tink I know everything. Hurt boy. Stupid act. Punishment was to sleep one night with artefacts. Never did again. As say before— old tings have long memories. Do not need to touch to feel price of power. I never do again. Never had to stay in room again. Never realise amulet gone."

"So, Igor took the amulet to protect himself from being found, but what was the price?" Moody asked.

Viktor's face was grim. "Imagine lifetime of hate for brother. Unrequited love from vitch. All memory— trapped in amulet, twisting protection with dark thoughts. Drive most insane, wery quickly. Even one night in same room— feel like nothing else in life. All negative thoughts I ever had— amplified. Control gone. Walls gone. All I hear is screams— inside self." Viktor shook his head. "Karkaroff strong man. Very strong to vear such tings and still survive. But he not immune. Only— determined. Desperate."

Viktor closed his eyes. "Understand _**now**_ why he start hurting students Vould have thought— recognise feeling from amulet. Maybe— once vear it, amulet focus entirely on vearer. No idea. Only guessing. But good guess."

Moody sat down heavily, no longer pacing the room. "Well, I guess I'll tell Amelia and she can deal with it as she sees fit. I can't imagine such things being contained in a school."

Viktor shrugged. "Durmstrang know dere two sides to every coin, every conflict, every truth. To value Light one must recognise Darkness, both of mind, object, or soul. Highmaster— as child we not realise he always have one foot in Darkness. Older, more experienced— den realised.

Moody grunted. "Well—" He fidgeted. "Thank you for your time."

Viktor stood. "Is not problem. Glad to help."

Rworl?

There was a thump as Hermione used her head to lever open the door and poke her head in. She chuffed a greeting.

Viktor immediately fell on all fours, making the shift seamlessly as he pounce-wrestled the lioness before they both bounded off out the door and down the hall.

Moody grunted. "Too many sodding lions."

"I dunno, dad," Harry said as he came around the corner. "I'd love to be a lion too."

"Not until you've graduated and have a stable job," Alastor snapped.

Harry sighed, slumping. "Yes, dad."

"And finish your homework!"

Harry came up to Alastor and put something in his hand.

"What's this, laddie?" He opened his hand and a blue spiderling with a white cross over her abdomen stared up at him.

"That's Coira," Harry said. "Hermione said you needed a good female in your life." Harry trundled off with his books.

Moody scowled down at his hand. He gently stroked her back with his finger. "Well, at least you have the right colours, lass."

Coira chirred and scurried up his arm and dove into his collar, snuggling up to his neck.

* * *

"Dark Weaver spider adoptions!" Luna called out as she sat at a long table just outside the Great Hall. "Don't be fooled by the name. They are very sweet and helpful as long as you don't step on them or drop your books on them!"

A golden-furred spider bounced up and down on Luna's shoulder.

"What has you all excited, Saffron?" Luna asked.

The spiderling squeaked sweetly.

"Oh, I suppose watching other spiders have their big day would be pretty exciting." Luna passed the spider a fly and watched for approaching passersby. Already the faculty and staff had all adopted— or had been adopted by— a fluffy spider friend. Even Filch had a charming grey spider with pink eyes he had named Miss Twitch. Mrs Norris and Miss Twitch had already taken turns chasing each other around the halls in celebration. Madam Pomfrey adopted a pristine white spiderling with a red cross marking on her abdomen. The spiderling ended up naming herself Achoo after someone's giant sneeze caused her to tumble off Pomfrey's shoulder. A mischievous spiderling the colour of parchment adopted Madam Pince. She named him Lazaro, and no one seemed to know where that name had come from. Madam Hooch adopted a black and white spiderling that loved to ride with her on her broom and pretend to be chasing some grand adversary across the skies. Harry dubbed the little guy Snoopy after the Muggle cartoon.

A bright purple spiderling with ginger stripes gained the name Bumper for running into things while bouncing to and fro. He gained a home with a shy Ravenclaw who happily shared her studies with her new spider buddy. An unfortunate spider that fell into the punch gained the named Drunken Weaver, while his brother gained the name Pumpkin from falling into the pumpkin juice and staining himself orange.

Hercule the spiderling gained notoriety by sniffing up trouble— students in trouble that is. Lollygaggers and curfew dodgers found they couldn't do either, for the spiderling always found them, and sounded the alarm to a patrolling Mrs Norris, who promptly alerted Filch.

And while most of the spiders made glorious silken weaves, alas— Ripper did not. The tiny scarlet-furred spiderling, small even compared to the other spiderlings, snipped weaves while his brethren made tight ones, punching holes as defined as a stencil in his sibling's hard work. Yet, Minerva seemed to realise the poor guy had a strange eye for his clipping as the silken weaves ended up being quite intricately designed, much like lace or a doily. She sent a few off to a friend in Hogsmeade to see if there would be a market for such things, and soon the poor spider was drowning in orders for the silken goods. Ripper found his talent and a home with Minerva. Meanwhile, the pride was gaining quite the vault in Gringott's. Lucius put his talents to work making the funds replicate themselves through investments and financial magic that didn't require a wand, and it seemed the pride was going to be well set for funding their carnivorous diet as well as having funds for side interests.

Piffle gained his name for his strange spazzing out, where he would suddenly take off across a table, bouncing off things, and then flinging himself off the edge of the table with a joyous, "Wheeeee!" The black and yellow polka-dotted spiderling found a home with a Hufflepuff boy who managed to catch Piffle during one of his dives off a table. The Hufflepuff Quidditch team immediately drafted him for their Seeker shortly after and proceeded to win every game since, much to the dismay of the other House teams.

Despite no small amount of effort on Severus' part, one silver-furred spiderling decided he was to be his best mate. Someone had magicked a Dracula cape onto the arachnid that transformed into a pair of bat wings, allowing the spider to fly around, evade capture, and keep with with Severus no matter where he went or tried to do. The children all called him "Bats," and it stuck.

Multiple clutters of spider groupies that loved to tend the tables in the Great Hall. Rainbow, Redips, Tonto, Eankabut, Kaija, Chance, Charlotte, and Ephrenia dubbed themselves the tenders of the Head Table, managing to wrangle everything from drinks to salad dressing and even the random crumbs in Hagrid's beard— much to the displeasure of the house-elves who wanted to do things themselves but not be seen.

Zig and Zag were Flitwick's favourite arachnid assistants, helping with everything from choir practice to charms. Anansi assisted Sinistra with her astronomy lessons and keeping the telescopes spotless. Brisket, Biscuit, Itsy, and Bitsy kept the kitchens in order—as much as a silent war between spider vs house-elf could be silent. When Dumbledore discovered the house-elves trapped in a silken net suspended from the kitchen ceiling, he politely requested that the arachnids and the house-elves amicably share the cooking and cleaning duties. The spiders were more than happy to agree, but the house-elves grumbled about it, grumpily saying that they were there first and the spiders could go find work somewhere else.

Surprisingly, Dumbledore himself came up with a solution for the elf versus spider conflict by drawing a line saying that the spiders could tend the tables that the elves set, serving the people actively, while the house-elves could take care of the other duties they would normally do. The spiders were only helping with what was most out in the open, he told them, and they weren't preventing any of the elves from doing what they normally did: accomplishing their daily tasks mostly unseen.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore recruited the spiderlings that didn't have specific jobs to help help out on the grounds, namely being an extra few thousands pairs of eyes and legs to report to the staff on duty when things were out of place. The spiderlings were all excited to be of use and able to help, and ended up reporting everything from a Muggle-started forest fire threatening to come near the Forbidden Forest to new animals appearing around Hagrid's hut at strange hours.

Two twin spiders, Warp and Weft, led the charge at keeping their eyes and legs peeled for strangeness coming from Hagrid's place while simultaneously ridding it of the insect infestation. Other than a few crates of controversial slug-eating raccoon dogs and a cage of escaped pineapple mice (whose touch turned any fruit into pineapples) that were driving the house-elves crazy due to a strange magical reaction that transformed every house-elf's torso into a pineapple shape, thus rendering them unable to perform their duties.

Dumbledore had informed his Deputy Head that he suspected Hagrid was up to something again, but the half-giant was being very elusive about his activities, much more so than he ever had before, which was particularly worrisome. The other professors were keeping watch, and the Pride seemed to keep Hagrid honest— or at least a bit more paranoid. Sadly, no one was really sure if that made Hagrid's obsession with dangerous beasts better or worse.

* * *

Hermione's eyes flew open from her sunning session and looked down her tawny stomach to see a small furry bundle snuggling up to her chest and trying to knead it with its paws to encourage milk flow.

She stared.

The cub kneaded her stomach again, this time a little more determinedly, and began to—

Holy Mother of Merlin!

Hermione's mind filled with a hundred and one random reference books about human, mammal, and creature biology—namely how she could possibly be lactating when she hadn't—

 _How_ was—

 _How_ could—

The cub purred and finished its meal, rubbing up against her and then flopping next to her head, rubbing its spotted head against her chin. "Mrowl?"

 _Mum. Mum. Mummy. Mine. Mine. Mummy._

Hermione's tail poofed out like a bristle brush. _Whaaa?_

The cub batted at her jaw with its oversized paws and mrrrrred loudly, giving her a loving lick under the jaw. _Mummy!_

Their eyes met, and Hermione felt herself falling, falling, falling into the warm purring love of a happy Nundu cub as everything slowly went black.

* * *

 _Auntie. Auntie. Auntie. Love. Love. Love._

The Nundu cub wrestled and hugged Minerva's tail as she lay in the sun.

Severus sighed, shaking his head. "Must you be so insufferably cute?"

The cub stared up at him, eyes wide. He bounce-pounced Lucius, climbing all over his mane, transferred over to Viktor, rubbing up against him, and then rolled on his back, feet up in the air as he went back and forth to itch his back. Hermione pinned the cub down and licked him over, grooming him from head to toe, and the Nundu radiated blissful happiness that spread through the Pride.

The mother Dark Weaver peered at the Nundu cub, legs twitching, seemingly unsure what to think, but Hermione groomed her too before rolling onto her back and sprawling back in the shade. The giant squid came over to investigate, extending his tentacles out to check out the cub, and he gently touched the cub with his feeder tentacles.

The cub bat, bat, batted the closest tentacle and then bounded up the length to sit on the squid's head, sprawling on top as king of the squid. Severus snorted, shaking his head. He frowned as he saw a familiar figure make his way down to the bank from the other side.

Hagrid stood at the edge of the lake, gesturing to the cub.

The cub sprawled on top of the squid, lazily batting at the other tentacles as the squid entertained him.

"Now, you need to come home now," Hagrid said, gesturing. "You can't be out here."

The cub, unimpressed, didn't budge.

Severus wondered if they were really that invisible— giant lions in the shade— or if Hagrid was just that oblivious. Did he realise he was confessing to having another dangerous magical creature without authorisation?

"Come on 'ere, Snookums," Hagrid called. "I promised Jorgenson that I'd take real good care of you, so you come along now."

The cub completely ignored him.

Hermione got up, lazily stretching herself from nose to tail tip. Viktor and Lucius were flanking her almost immediately. She gave a low rumbling roar. "Hhhhuunnnggghhh! Hngh. Hngh. Hngh. Hrrrroouuunngh. Nnnnnggrrronngh."

The cub, who utterly refused to answer to any name as ridiculous and embarrassing as 'Snookums', slid down the squid's tentacles, splashed into the water, swam to shore, and shook himself off, bounding towards his "mummy" just as fast as he could.

Yoink!

Hagrid snatched the cub up. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed victoriously. "No more escaping for you, now."

The Nundu cub hissed, trying to sink his milk teeth into Hagrid, but the half-giant didn't even seem to notice.

"Hey, now!" Hagrid said.

The cub became frantic as he watched his mummy lazily walking up the trail. Her ears were flicking backward to catch wind of his catching up, but he wasn't catching up—

 _ **MMMRRSSSSHHSSSSSS!**_

The cub let out a frightful noise, claws working as he tried to get Hagrid to let go, but his teeth and claws were not enough to make a dent in the much larger half-giant.

"Oh, do settle down, Snooks," Hagrid said. "I said I'd take care of yeh, and I mean ta keep that promise. Jorgenson didn't have any room for yeh, and you'll have plenty of room 'ere."

 _ **HIsssssSSSSS!**_

The cub let out a screech, starting to huff out small clouds of black vapour.

 _ **ROARRRR!**_

Hermione slammed herself hard into Hagrid, her claws digging into his leg as her back legs pistoned backwards and then raked down his coat, tearing it to shreds. Viktor slammed into him from the front as Lucius seized the other leg. Hagrid went tumbling backwards, giving a yell of surprize.

" _ **Oi!**_ You _**know**_ who I am! _**Stop it!**_ " Hagrid bellowed.

He wouldn't let go of the squirming, frantic Nundu cub, and the cub yowled his terror and distress. Hermione responded in kind, her claws and teeth becoming more focused and determined. The lions with her were seemingly driven by her, responding to her own actions in tandem and with even greater force.

 _ **WHAM!**_

Severus slammed into Hagrid, standing on his kidneys as his hand-paws curled around Hagrid's neck. "Let the cub go." His lips pulled back from his teeth. " _ **Now."**_

Hagrid loosened his grip and the cub leapt out in a flurry of fur and claws. The cub bravely threw himself directly at Hagrid's face, ripping and clawing and going for the eyes and the nose.

Hermione's jaws closed around the cub, picking him up, and the cub instinctively went limp, relinquishing his death grip on Hagrid's face.

 _Mummy here. Safe now. Mummy. Mum. Mum. Mum._

Hermione, no longer in her maddened, agitated state, rubbed up against Severus, allowing his paw to soothe her head before she continued her walk up the path, the cub dangling between her jaws. Lucius and Viktor glowered at the half-giant, turned around and scraped dirt and grass up with their rear legs, showering Hagrid with debris before taking off up the trail to catch up with Hermione.

Hnnnngggahhhh.

Hnnngggghhh.

The lions roared to each other.

 _ **Crack!**_

Albus appeared with Fawkes, the phoenix turning his head to the side like an owl and bobbing his head to focus on Hagrid.

Severus had long since released the half-giant, and he stood with his arms crossed, looking as he would for his first years.

"Do I even _want_ to—"

 _ **Brwoooooooolll!**_

An eerie triple-howl came from the woods as terrified cries rang out from both inside the forest and out. Equine screams came from the forest as human ones came from the area of the paddocks that Professor Grubbly-Plank had set up. Children were screaming, and then teachers were running out to assist. Dumbledore and Severus were running as Dumbledore yelled out an incantation to drop the anti-Apparition jinx as Kingsley's lynx and Minerva's tabby cat Patronus went zooming off into the dusk.

 _ **Crack.**_

 _ **. Crack!**_

Almost instantly, Aurors were arriving just in time to see five gargantuan three-headed "puppies" burst onto the Hogwarts grounds through the trees. Armoured scorpion tails curved up from their rumps as the feral beasts snarled, a heinous mixture of three-headed dog meets scorpion. As leathery wings beat, the combination became clearer. Fluffy had clearly found himself a mate— in a manticore, and the puppies were— the nastiest result possible.

Garrrroff! Sounded in triplicate as the female manticore burst through the trees, tumbling with a centaur. The centaur thrust a spear deep into her body, but not before she whipped her tail around and buried it into the centaur hunter. They both fell to the ground, twitching.

The pups, seeing the fall of their mother, went beserk, and they tore off after anyone and everyone they could find.

The teachers and staff blasted one with spells, but it only slowed down. It took all of them to keep the one occupied, yet four others remained. Albus took on one along with Fawkes, surrounding one pup in magical fire, but the hound busted right through it, immune to fire. The Headmaster clapped his hands together, turning the fire into ice, and the wreath of frozen fire choked the rabid animal and bound it.

Meanwhile, one pup got too close to the Whomping Willow, and the irate tree did what it was known for, pummelling the beast repeatedly before hitting it straight into the lake only to have it fall in and get dragged under by the giant (highly-perturbed) squid.

Two "pups" remained, and they went straight for a group of frightened children trying to hide in the greenhouse. Pomona stood in front, valiantly conjuring a wall of thorns to protect the children— leaving herself in the open. Sinistra appeared beside her, and they threw spells in the direction of the rampaging monster puppies, only to have them bounce off the armored scorpion-like backs.

Suddenly, Viktor bounded up beside them, skidding to a halt as he took his human form, he pointed his wand out and yelled, " _Cetus turben maximus!"_

A cyclone of wind formed around the charging beasts, but only caught one. The caught one yipped as its body was surrounded by countless aerial displaced great white sharks. The sharks descended upon the monster, taking bites out of it, their serrated rows of teeth tearing the beast to shreds— one bite at a time.

One last "pup" remained, and it was charging at the group of kids that had mistakenly tried to hide inside Hagrid's nearby hut. It pushed its weight on the door and wall.

 _ **Crack.**_

 _ **CRACK.**_

 _ **CR-RRR-ACK!**_

The wall collapsed, and the children screamed, some of them trying to cast spells, but they harmlessly pinged off the beast's body. One head ripped off the roof. One head crunched the door, and the other head drooled as it eyed the terrified children hungrily. It leapt towards them as the children screamed.

 _ **Roar!**_

Hermione slammed into the beast with a leonine roar, her claws sinking into the middle head's eyes as her rear legs pulled up and then gouged deep across the throat.

The beast roared, the two remaining heads attacking her. She dodged one, but the other head managed to clamp onto her scruff, and she roared in pain. Viktor and Lucius immediately leapt into the fray, claws making vicious swaths across the monster's tough hide. Their claws bounced off the hardened carapace from the manticore's scorpion heritage. The beast howled, its tail moving around to stab someone else, but Viktor fell off the beast with a roll, shifting into his human form and casting a spell.

 _ **Shing!**_

The stinger end of the beast fell to the ground, bouncing and jabbing, even separated its attempts to kill were still far too engrained. The beast howled, snapping violently, smashing into things and rolling on its back to scrape the lions off, but the lions refused to give up.

" _ **Sectumsempra!"**_ Severus hissed, the hot flare of his magic zinging out toward the beast.

The creature yipped, teetering from one side to another as its legs gave way and it fell in the dirt. Its wings continued to flap. Its tail continued to jab, even while the stinger was elsewhere. It glared hatefully at Severus. Suddenly, one head moved to snap at Snape as he stood there, and a blur of spotted gold and black fur launched into the air with a large squadron of angry spiders, and the Nundu cub clawed at the remaining head's face and then breathed out a large cloud of virulent disease.

The spiders had the body wrapped in silk in minutes, but the creature could no longer do more than twitch. Finally, the beast's hateful eyes lost their malevolent glow and went out as the beast drew its last breath.

The lions lay on the ground, bleeding, the crimson blood staining the ground from a hundred slashes from the battle. Foam flecked their muzzles as their sides heaved. Lucius's pristine white fur was stained red, and Severus' robes were torn and damp with blood. Viktor leaned against a crumbled wall, sides heaving as he nursed his arm where he had fallen in order to get his spell out in time. Fawkes landed on the nearby centaur, dripping tears down into the gaping wound that oozed manticore poison. The centaur took in a ragged breath, but seemed to get better.

Pomfrey ran up quickly as the Nundu cub head-bonked his lioness mum over and over, meowing plaintively for her attention, but Hermione's eyes were half-closed, her body still as she struggled to breathe.

 _Mum. Mummy. MUM! MUMMMM!_

The cub cried, trying to use his head to lever his mother's head up. Hermione weakly pegged him with her tongue, but her eyes closed.

 _Mummyyy!_

Pomfrey rushed over, shaking a flask as she waved her wand at the same time, multi-tasking as only a medi-witch under fire could do. She skid to Hermione's side, pouring the drought down her throat as she cradled the lioness' head. She waved her wand over the gashes and wounds, sending her magic not only through Hermione but the entire pride. Their wounds closed, binding together, the magic of the Pride-bond sharing Pomfrey's healing to all of them.

Hermione opened her eyes, and she licked Pomfrey's hand with her raspy tongue with gratitude. She sat up slowly, pegging her cub a few times to settle him down and checked each of her pride-mates over, whuffling in concern. Pomfrey's magic, however, had done what it was supposed to do, and the pride was whole again.

The Nundu cub leapt into Pomfrey's arms, wriggling and snuggling, lapping under her chin with happy appreciation before joyfully bounce-pouncing his mum's tail and frolicking between her legs.

As Hogwarts staff and teachers began to check on the wounded and just plain terrified, he levitated an incapacitated Hagrid towards a conjured stretcher. The Aurors that had helped protect the students— some by levitating them to the top of the Hogwarts ramparts and some by escorting them up into the Astronomy tower— rubbed their aching muscles and yawned as they gratefully accepted the proffered invigoration potions from Poppy.

As the battle-weary folks sat down with each other, happy to be alive and that the children were safe, some of the Aurors spoke with the centaurs, traveling with them to make sure the forest was not harbouring any other creatures that might come back for revenge. Professor Sprout passed around a number of small gourds, saying that the sweet nectar within would help rejuvenate everyone. Students, Aurors, and staff shared it with each other. Albus, too, sipped from one of the gourds, carefully pouring some nectar into his hand for Fawkes.

Hermione stood, silently padding over to where the healing staff were fussing over a seriously injured Hagrid. Poppy was tutting worriedly.

"For some reason, healing magic isn't working properly on him!" she said to her colleague. "We may have to bind his wounds even more tightly."

"Any tighter and we'll lose the limbs instead of saving them," the other witch said.

"He's never been this hurt before," Poppy said as she tried another spell, but it just hovered over the wound and the dissipated. "Damn this half-giant physiology!"

Hermione padded up, her eyes glowing, and her disc began to glow. She started to stand on her hind legs, her body becoming taller and more erect, but her lion head remained. She blinked slowly, a very feline sort of blink.

"Rubeus Hagrid, son of Fridwulfa," her voice echoed with countless other voices behind it. "I have watched you for a very long time. Your heart is as large as you are, but your common sense is lacking. You would endanger hundreds of children and the true inhabitants of the forest with your various—experiments. You endanger those that my Pride protects. The Laws of Ma'at demand justice for the injured, but it is not your time to die."

Sekhmet-Hermione blinked slowly, her hand-paws extending over Hagrid's heart. "For you have closed your ears to the truth. You have been deceitful. You have caused disruption of peace. You have often acted rashly in haste or without thought. You have placed yourself upon a pedestal, and acted with insolence— you have broken at least six of the laws of Ma'at. You have lied not to protect the innocent but yourself. Yet—"

Sekhmet-Hermione sighed. "Your heart is not wholly darkened and heavy with misdeed. For that alone, your punishment shall not be eternal. However, I shall take away that which makes you so resistant to the magic that can save your life, but you shall be as fragile as those around you despite the gifts inherent in your heritage. Use the time you have to reflect upon your deeds." A glowing lion print fell from Sekhmet's paw and fused into Hagrid's body, and his body began to immediately heal, no longer impervious to Pomfrey's efforts to heal him.

Sekhmet picked up the Nundu cub. "And you, little one, shall breathe disease no more, save in the protection of those you love. This— for your bravery." A golden lion print glowed on the Nundu's forehead, shining like a star.

The cub wriggled and slurped the Goddess under the chin.

"Your name shall be Jabari, the Fearless One" she said, kissing his forehead. The golden print faded into his forehead and a golden pattern of spots shaped like a paw remained.

With that, she gently placed the cub back down. "This is my Judgement by the accord of the Laws of Ma'at, whom even my Father, Ra, doth tip his head. This—is how it shall be."

The glow in Hermione's eyes faded, and her solar disc stopped glowing as she fell back on all fours. The cub pounced her, wrestling and she gave him a fond grooming.

Albus stroked his beard. "Well then. I'm not about to argue with that. Anyone else feel like it?"

No one spoke up.

Fawkes sang a jaunty version of _Drunken Sailor_ from Albus' shoulder.

* * *

 _ **Hogwarts Welcomes Lion Guardians**_

 _Hogwarts proved itself yet again by protecting its students and staff when a pack of vicious cross-bred dangerous beasts attacked. The creatures, posthumously discovered to be a cross between cerebi and manicores, had apparently attacked the local centaur population and were driven out of the forest, where they decided to attack the nearest population: Hogwarts._

 _Aurors were called in almost immediately, and they helped protect the children and bring them to safe harbour while Hogwart's staff and guardians worked hard to protect its treasured students. Namely amongst the protectors of Hogwarts was its new lion pride, which flung themselves into battle without a thought to their own welfare. The battle, as described by those who saw it, was fierce, leaving the attacking monsters dead, and the lions suffering from grievous wounds._

 _The schools Medi-witches tended the injured in the aftermath, and the prognosis looks good for everyone, save the crossbred beasts. Investigation is underway as to the origin of the crossbreeds._

 _Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, who spent the majority of the event protecting the younger students in the Great Hall in case the battle came to them, stated that the only injuries on the students were, fortunately, from their haste to flee the beasts' wrath._

 _Many families have sent gifts to the faculty, staff, and Aurors who helped protect their children. The school had a picnic out on the green with families and friends, including the local centaur herd, celebrating their victory and safety of their loved ones._

 _Miraculously, no one was killed._

 _The Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, expresses his gratitude to the Aurors that helped and responded so quickly as well as to the valiant teachers, staff, and lions that protected the school. He stated he will be working closely with the centaurs and the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in determining and other possible threats that may be lurking in the neighbouring forest._

 _The unsung hero of the battle, however, was a young Nundu cub to valiantly threw himself into battle and breathed disease on the last attacking monster, saving the battle-weary Professor Snape, who had cut down the last beast, from the monster's death throes and attempt to take the teacher with it. The cub, which has been examined by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, has been determine bound to the magic of the Hogwarts Pride as well as safe around people, for his "disease" breath has transformed into harmless Eau de Sweetgrass._

 _The cub, named Jabari, has made fast friends in the children of Hogwarts, and looks to be a great protector in the making._

* * *

"Lucius, you are _insufferable_ ," Severus muttered as the white lion rolled over onto his back, feet up in the air, the remains of his "breakfast zebra" picked down to the bones.

Kingsley licked his muzzle, having helped in the cleaning of the bones.

Piles of gifts remained in piles around the habitat, far too many to truly go through them all. The perishables had been sorted out quickly thanks to Jabari, whose nose led him to all of the food-related packages. The other ones, however, remained in large piles, waiting for the Pride to get to them.

Jabari bounce, pounced, and lounged on top of the adults, sprawling on top of Lucius' exposed belly to bat at Viktor's tail, and Lucius groomed him until he tumbled off him.

 _Uncle. Uncle. Love. Love. Love._

Jabari's unreserved adoration for his lion uncles rang out through the pride-bond, and he spazzed out, dashing around like a thing possessed, bouncing off their lounging bodies, springing off Lucius' stomach to sprong on Viktor, and then running straight into Severus' legs. He gnawed on Severus' boots and then ambushed his mum's tail as she walked by carrying a basket of potions meant for Madam Pomfrey. She placed them on the table and yawned widely. Viktor placed a paw on her back, and then they were off, chasing each other around the habitat and tumbling into Lucius, who then rolled over onto Kingsley. Kingsley paw-bonked Lucius over the head and rolled over next to Minerva, who was blissfully soaking up the sun like it was her job.

Severus pinched the bridge of his muzzle, shaking his head. "Apprentice."

Hermione perked, bouncing over to him, cub in tow, to stop at his side and rub up against him. Jabari placed his paws on his kneecap, staring up at him adoringly.

"Do make yourself useful by trying to whittle away that rather obnoxious pile of mail?" Severus said with a rub of his paws against his face.

Hermione rumbled lowly, smacking her tail into his side as she looked fondly at him. "Okay, if only so you don't burn it all. There might be a _few_ useful things inside."

Severus shook his head. "Doubtful."

Hermione huffed, itching her ear with her back foot. Jabari imitated her every move, making it look adorable.

Severus pulled the cub up, ruffling his fur. The Nundu cub rubbed his head against his chin happily. Hermione eyed him, her leonine expression seeming to soften at his affection for her cub. He caught her looking and he schooled his face into the regular, stern look he favoured. Hermione shook her head sadly and walked off toward the giant pile of fan mail.

Jabari leapt down and followed his mum, rubbing up against her and then zooming off to places unknown to explore.

"Where does that cub go, anyway?" Lucius asked. "He's glued to us most of the time, but sometimes he just seems like he's on a mission.

"He _is_ on a mission," Hermione said amusedly.

"I swear he hears his name being called from across the castle," Lucius muttered.

"He probably does," Hermione replied, sitting down by the giant stack of mail. She took on her human form. "I suppose having hands would help in this. Despite what my cub thinks."

"Ever think of having one of your own?" Lucius asked, surprisingly casual.

Hermione paused and shrugged. "Sometimes, I wonder who could accept someone like me. I have a lot of quirks that most people wouldn't be able to handle."

"Channeling Sekhmet?"

"That amongst other things," Hermione said with a chuckle. "Not all of us can be as charming as dear Viktor, who has witches lining up for miles to have his cubs."

Viktor snorted, his tail thumping back and forth on the ground.

"Besides, we all know that Viktor still favours his childhood sweetheart," Hermione said with a wink.

"Just waiting for her to remember _me_ ," Viktor said with a wistful sigh.

"I think she remembers you better than you might think," Hermione said, the mother Dark Weaver bouncing up and down on her shoulder in agreement.

Hermione held up a piece of parchment she had taken out of the group box. "My beloved Viktor, I have the most wonderful news. Madam Pomfrey has accepted me as an apprentice, and I shall start as soon as next term for you at Hogwarts— _**EEGAHHHGGFFMPH!"**_

Viktor pounced Hermione, snatching the parchment and plopping his huge paws on each side of it, his eyes flicking back and forth to read it. He stared at Hermione. "You read Bulgarian?"

Hermione gave him a look. "I had to do _some_ thing since I already sat my N.E.W.T.s."

"Tereza say she come tonight! I have to— I need— _**AH!**_ " Viktor stood to his full height, seizing Hermione into a tight, enthusiastic hug. "You are truly sestrá of my heart!" He crushed the parchment in his hand and planted a kiss on her forehead, rushing out the door in a flurry of robes.

"Well, we know where he'll be for the weekend," Kingsley chuckled.

"Like _you_ can talk. If Minerva wasn't already here, you'd be just the same," Lucius sniffed.

"You already have a wife," Kingsley retorted.

Lucius rolled over. Placing a paw to his forehead. "Alas, she refuses to give up living in a luxurious mansion for the joys of Hogwarts. I think she's using me for my income."

Kingsley stared and then seemed to realise Lucius was actually joking. "Lucius, I never saw you as someone who could take to life as a lion so easily."

Lucius seemed thoughtful. "A long time ago, a lioness saved my life. Quite a few of our lives, actually. It's strange. I don't— I don't know _why_ I didn't remember that before."

Severus frowned, turning to Lucius.

"You remember her now, don't you, brother?" he asked Severus.

Severus furrowed his eyebrows. "Yes, I—" He gave Lucius a strange look.

"You two were inseparable during school," Lucius recalled. "I think even Lily was jealous— but what happened to her?

Severus shook his head. "I don't—" He frowned, his brows crinkling. "Why don't I remember her name?"

* * *

 _Hot breath bore down his back— he swore he could feel it._

 _He ran._

 _He ran faster than he'd ever run before._

 _Fuck!_

 _Lupin was a bloody werewolf!_

 _He ran towards Hogwarts— his eyes widening as he saw Lucius and Regulus waiting by the tunnel. But something was wrong…_

 _They were paralysed. No!_

 _The grate was closed— what the FUCK?!_

 _Magical vapours swarmed around the closed grate._

 _A trap. Meant for him._

 _Lucius and Regulus were always looking out for him— only now it had gotten them in trouble too!_

 _Severus could barely breathe— barely see. Sweat was stinging his eyes. His lungs screamed painfully. Still, he screamed, "Protego!", willing what was left of his energy into a wandless spell of pure desperation._

 _Lucius and Regulus fell flat on their faces, pushing themselves up with their arms to see doom approaching on four legs. They threw spells up in a panic, and they slammed into the werewolf—_

 _The werewolf slowed, but then snarled, picking up the pace as its rage grew. Severus fell, one of the spells having hit him instead, and he skid in the mud and brush._

 _He was going to die._

 _He hoped it would be quick. He did not want to be a werewolf. Death would be better._

" _Sirius, you fucking bastard, unseal this grate!"_

 _Potter._

 _Potter was on the other side of the grate._

 _The werewolf roared and leapt._

" _Moony no!" Potter screamed._

 _ROARRRRRRRR!_

 _A blur of gold and tawny fur fell from above. Long, thick fangs bared as a huge paw slammed into the werewolf's muzzle and sent him flying with a loud, solid thwack._

 _A lioness._

 _A huge, bloody LIONESS._

 _The lioness snarled and bounded after the werewolf, her fangs sinking deep into the werewolf's neck as she tore into him from on top, like she was attempting to bring down a water buffalo._

 _Lupin was huge, but— the lioness was monstrous. Her eyes were like blazing suns, and tore into the werewolf, her legs pulled back and she raked them down the werewolf's back, sides, and—_

 _The werewolf, maddened by the scent of human, fought back, if only to get at the humans and sink his teeth into them. Severus, Lucius, and Regulus tried to get the grate open with Potter trying from the other side. He screamed out for Sirius, cursing at him._

 _The werewolf managed to bolt away, snarling as he head towards the enticing human prey._

 _It was a mistake._

 _The attention the werewolf was giving to the humans took it away from the one he should have been worried about: the lioness._

 _She wrestled him to the ground on his back and her rear legs pistoned back and then raked down his belly all the way to his—_

 _The wizards winced together, despite themselves. That— was cutting straight to the quick._

 _The werewolf yelped, staggering, limping—_

 _The lioness snarled, lips pulling back from her teeth._

" _You get the fuck away from Moony!" Sirius' voice screamed. He sent a flurry of curses, and red and green beams slammed into the lioness. She bled from a hundred cuts that even the werewolf hadn't been able to inflict upon her._

 _But her eyes, oh, Merlin, her eyes._

 _They were filled with the kind of malice he imagined he had for his father, only it paled in comparison. Blood streamed down her sides, staining her golden fur crimson. There was some sort of— headdress over her head that began to glow._

 _A ghostly image of a woman draped in finery unlike anything any of them had seen stood above her. Her eyes were like blazing suns. Above her was a solar disc, emblazoned with the eye of Ra._

" _You commited sin."_

" _You have stolen."_

" _You have stolen food."_

" _You have cursed."_

" _You have closed your ears to truth."_

" _You have made others cry."_

" _You have assaulted."_

" _You are deceitful."_

" _You have eavesdropped."_

" _You have falsely accused."_

" _You have been angry without reason."_

" _You have polluted yourself."_

" _You have terrorized another."_

" _You have disobeyed the Law."_

" _You have behaved with violence."_

" _You have disrupted peace."_

" _You have acted hastily without thought."_

" _You have exaggerated words when speaking."_

" _You have worked evil."_

" _You have used evil thoughts, words, or deeds."_

" _You have spoken angrily and arrogantly."_

" _You have placed yourself upon a pedestal."_

" _You have disrespected the deceased."_

" _You have taken food from a child."_

" _You have acted in insolence."_

 _The phantom, lion-headed Goddess snarled._

" _You have destroyed property belonging to a Goddess."_

 _The phantom gestured to Her lioness, and the bloody wounds healed._

" _I am the right eye of my father, Ra, and you— you deserve to have your heart eaten by Ammit the Devourer, dog."_

 _The phantom gestured, and the lioness pounced the wizard boy, snarling, as her teeth bore down on his chest. Sirius screamed, whimpering, his pants wet with his own fear._

 _James went yelling down the tunnel as he fled back into Hogwarts— to get help or perhaps to save himself._

" _No."_

 _Severus fell to his knees before the phantom._

" _Why do you speak out for this one? He who wishes you dead?"_

" _He has done me ill, Goddess, but I will not be him. I will not take joy in his death, however justified. I beg you, my Goddess. Please. He has done this crime against us. Allow us to judge his fate."_

 _The goddess narrowed her eyes. "He will escape judgement by human hands."_

" _But we must try, Goddess," Severus said. "I do not wish to live with his death upon my soul. Even his."_

" _That then," the goddess replied. "Is a good reason, human. I leave him to you. But this one—"_

 _The goddess pointed to the werewolf. "This, I cannot abide."_

 _She closed her fist, and Lupin yelped as he was thrust into the air and suspended, his legs dangling helplessly. She crushed her hand, and shook it violently, and the werewolf yelped and cried out._

 _The boys started to protest, but then a phantom of the werewolf shook free of the body and then burst into sunfire— screaming. Lupin, naked, drifted to the ground. He let out a pained gasp, bloody from a hundred gashes and scratches._

 _The goddess' form shimmered and faded. "I leave them to your human judgement and My lioness in your care."_

 _ **-Click-**_

 _ **Screee...**_

 _The closed gate opened noisily and the boys looked. When they turned back, the goddess was gone. A woman stood in her place, hair wild and bushy and eyes aglow. Her face was half-wild and predatory, looking far more the lion than woman, even while her features remained very human. Her lips pulled back from her teeth, baring them with a low growl. It was obvious she was still "evaluating" them._

" _My lady," Regulus said immediately, gaining his manners faster than the two gaping at his sides. "I am Regulus. These two are Lucius and Severus. Please, tell us your name that we may address you by it."_

 _Sanity seemed to creep back into the woman's eyes, the glow slowly dissipating into a softer brown. Her nostrils flared. Her eyes flicked from each wizard and then to the bleeding Lupin lying upon the ground. She seemed to make a decision and dropped down beside the once-werewolf, placing her hand to his forehead as her pulled a vial of something out of her robes. She unstoppered it, sniffed it, and then put it to his lips. "Drink. You will need this to stop the bleeding and give you some of what you bled out back."_

 _She stared down at Lupin, her expression firm— wisdom that seemed to belong to someone far older lurked behind her eyes. Lupin sputtered but drank most of the potion as some of it went down his chin and neck, but the bleeding stopped. He opened his eyes a little wider, trying to focus on her and failing when he called her Madam Pomfrey and started babbling how her hair was different._

" _Let's get him to the infirmary," Lucius said casting levitation on Lupin._

 _Lupin's body floated upward, and he and Regulus took his feet as Severus took the head-end._

 _The witch's expression calmed and softened at last. "Hermione," she replied. "My name is Hermione."_

* * *

" _I'm afraid that Hogwarts does not accept transfer students," Dumbledore said. "Even if they do drop out of the sky and save our Mr Lupin."_

" _You can't be serious, Albus," Minerva said. "You're just going to cast her aside without even giving her a chance for education?"_

" _Minerva, we have no precedent for taking transfers. We've never had transfers," Albus said._

" _Then_ _ **make**_ _a precedent, Albus!"_

" _How do I even justify—"_

" _Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," Minerva hissed, her cat ears practically sprouting up to lie flat against her skull in clear anger. "If you cannot justify having her here at Hogwarts as a student, then_ _ **I**_ _will have her sit her tests and become my apprentice! And it would be a shame if I would have to go to the Mastery Office and explain why a young witch with such obvious talent can't seem to get into a school! I'm sure the papers will be following the story for weeks!"_

 _Dumbledore's eyes widened, and the three Slytherin students and Lupin tried to make themselves disappear into the shelving to escape McGonagall's unmistakable ire. The new witch, however, sat calmly— eerily so—_

" _Her eyes are black," Regulus whispered._

" _What?" Lucius whispered back._

" _Occlumency."_

" _Nonsense, Severus' eyes are black and_ _ **he**_ _doesn't—"_

" _I'm telling you, it's Occlumency," Regulus insisted. He trailed off. Hermione was looking directly at him, her expression stony._

" _Minerva, I doubt if Gryffindor will be a good place for her after what she's done," Albus insisted._

" _Saved these three young men's lives?" Minerva replied icily. "It's bad enough that we are harbouring a werewolf right under the noses of all the other children, Albus, but these three—" She pointed a finger at Sirius, Peter, and James. "They have blatantly terrorised Mr Snape for his entire Hogwarts career to date, right along with a long list offenses against of other Slytherins from mean-spirited pranks to the most abhorrent acts of violence. Violence that almost got three of our students_ _ **killed!**_ "

" _Very well, Minerva," Albus said. "You win. I will speak with the other House heads, but I doubt you will get much help there. Slytherin is notoriously close-minded about those who do not have certain names, Hufflepuff is hardly going to be her place, and Ravenclaw is far more interested in intellectual pursuits than full-body martial combat on the green."_

 _Minerva narrowed her eyes. "I think Horace will hear the story and be the first one to induct her into Slytherin before you can even blink."_

 _Albus raised his hand. "Peace, Minerva. I will see what I can do. As for the situation at hand, however, Messrs Potter, Black, and Pettigrew, I fear you have earned yourselves detention for the rest of the month. I will assign you three to Professor Kettleburn, who has recently expressed a need for student assistance in taking care of the school's livestock. It starts tonight at seven p.m. sharp. I will be sending letters to each of your parents detailing your actions and why you will be forbidden Hogsmeade privileges for the rest of the year in addition to serving detention. In the meantime, I will be going through your personal belongings along with Professor McGonagall, to ensure you do not possess any contraband or anything else detrimental to the other students in this school, such as this."_

 _Dumbledore tapped the parchment in front of him. "This item has been confiscated and will be sent to the DoM for analysis. If you are caught in possession of another said piece of strangely "blank" enchanted parchment that seems to like insulting those who would inquire as to what it truly is, more extensive punitive measures_ _ **will**_ _be taken."_

" _It's just a_ _ **joke!**_ " _Sirius blurted._

 _Albus leveled his gaze sternly at the teen wizard. "Mr Black, I can assure you that I have not lived this long to be easily taken for a fool by a piece of joke parchment, despite what it thinks I am— or should I say, what you four think I am, hrm? The parchment clearly lists the creators as Padfoot, Wormtail, Prongs, and Moony, and I have a long list of teachers and students who can and will confirm that these are the nicknames you have been using to refer to each other. He held out the offending parchment to Fawkes, and the phoenix dipped his head, allowing one tear to fall upon the surface._

 _Ink swirled and churned over the parchment, soon exposing the hidden side of Marauder's Map where hundreds of names pinpointed the exact location of everyone including rather lewd details on the status and current activities of various witches._

 _Sirius, James, and Wormtail immediately paled while Remus flushed red, looking distinctly ashamed of himself._

" _Mr Lupin, I want you to report directly to Poppy for a thorough examination to make certain that you don't have any lingering signs or symptoms of lycanthropy."_

" _Yes, sir."_

" _Messrs Snape and Black," Albus said. "While you are all decidedly victims here, you were also out past curfew, and you will all be serving detention with Professor Flitwick, who requires assistance with setting up the auditorium for the next choir concert."_

" _Yes, sir,"they replied quietly, staring down at their laps._

" _While I realise, Mr Malfoy that you are not strictly a student as you are an apprentice with Professor Slughorn, I am reporting you to Professor Slughorn and recommending he give you the appropriate punishment for leading Mr Black into danger in the first place."_

 _Lucius tightened his jaw. "Yes, sir."_

" _You may go, except for you Miss—"_

 _Hermione lifted her head. "Sesheta."_

" _Well, then, Miss Sesheta. Welcome to Hogwarts."_

 _Hermione gave a tight smile._

* * *

" _I think I've finally seen someone they hate more than me," Severus said as he eyed the deathly glares coming from the Gryffindor tables._

 _Hermione sighed, shaking her head. "Everyone has to have someone to blame, I suppose."_

" _Let them brood and fester their petty hatreds," Lucius said, passing the salad. "They are just angry they were actually caught doing the things they normally."_

" _Being insufferable wankers," Regulus muttered._

" _Regulus, where are those pureblood manners?" Lucius chided._

" _Flushed after having heard the screaming howler demonstrating that my lady mother knows far more profanity than anyone gave her credit for," Regulus answered._

 _Regulus sat next to Hermione, wiggling his eyebrows. "Would our lady Hermione wish to accompany us to Hogsmeade?"_

" _Regulus, you overbearing flirt!" Severus shoved Regulus away._

" _Aw, come on Severus," Regulus said. "I can't help that I'm a Seeker who always knows where the Snitch is." He winked at Hermione, causing her to blush. "So, will you come with us?"_

" _With_ _ **you**_ _, you mean," Severus grumped, rolling his eyes._

 _Regulus gave Hermione his best soulful eyes, flirting shamelessly._

" _Fine, I'll go with you," Hermione muttered._

" _Yes!" Regulus crowed, pumping his fist joyfully._

" _There'll be no living with him after this," Lucius said, sighing._

" _Slytherin whore," a witch hissed as she passed the table._

 _Hermione flinched and turned away, gathering her books close to herself and rushing out of the Great Hall._

 _Severus, Lucius, and Regulus turned to the Gryffindor table, staring at the witches that were giggling and smiling, laughing at Hermione's obvious discomfiture._

 _Black, Pettigrew, and Potter had their feet resting on the table, leaning back and looking oh-so-smug._

 _Severus leaned back, his eyes blacker than night. "You know, it's_ _ **such**_ _a pity that all those witches don't realise that those three have been using a magical parchment map to detail the locations, activities, and random states of nudity."_

 _Lucius, catching on, leaned in, saying, "Puerile little spies, running around trying to catch clueless witches in their knickers. I wonder how long it will take them to realise that they would always show up at exactly the wrong moment. Well, the wrong moment for them, yet a curiously… fortuitous moment for those Gryffindor voyeurs."_

 _Whispers travelled up and down the table._

 _Suddenly, Potter, Black, and Wormtail's snickers sounded off extra loudly as if someone had cast a surreptitious Sonorus charm upon them and then simply let them speak for themselves._

" _Don't worry about it."_

" _No way they can_ _ **prove**_ _it."_

" _Not like we even have the map anymore, anyway."_

 _Hundreds of witches turned their heads as one to glare holes through the snickering Marauders—_

 _And then descended upon them with simultaneous screams of outrage, hexes, and curses._

 _Lucius, Regulus, and Severus calmly sipped their pumpkin juice, seemingly oblivious to the chaos they had just unleashed._

* * *

" _Hey."_

" _Oh," Hermione said, pulling her knees up under her chin. "I was just going to go for a walk."_

" _In the dark?"_

 _Hermione tilted her head. "It's not dark."_

 _Severus pointed upward. "The stars are calling you a liar."_

 _Hermione smiled. "The stars_ _ **are**_ _light, therefore, I am not a liar."_

 _Severus rolled his eyes. "Insufferable know-it-all."_

 _Hermione snorted._

" _You shouldn't take anything coming from those dimwitted witches seriously. It's just jealousy-fueled rubbish"_

" _Yeah, well, in order to be a whore or a slag I have to actually have done things with wizards that I haven't done," she said bitterly. "Not that it matters to them."_

" _You're far more than any of them could possibly imagine."_

" _Oh, I'm pretty sure their imaginations are all too practiced."_

" _Not in the truth," Severus replied._

 _Hermione snorted, shaking her head._

" _Lucius will be leaving at the end of this year. His time with Slughorn is finished at last," Severus said. "But he wanted you to know that you won't be getting any grief from Slytherin."_

 _Hermione let out her breath slowly. "What was he apprenticing with Slughorn in? Not potions, obviously." She gave Severus a wry look._

" _Obviously," Snape replied, his lips twitching with amusement._

 _They laughed together, and the frowns seemed to fade away from their youthful faces._

" _Slughorn is—"_

" _Special."_

 _Snape frowned. "But he has connections— and connections—"_

" _Are the lifeblood of any Slytherin," Hermione recited._

 _Severus chuckled. "Yes."_

" _Would you like to walk with me?" Hermione asked._

 _Severus tilted his head. "In the dark?"_

 _Hermione huffed. "It is not dark."_

" _I suppose," he replied, his voice soft._

 _Hermione smiled at him, and his entire world fell away._

* * *

" _What is this?"_

" _It's a box."_

 _Severus eyed Hermione, his eye raised at her._

 _She gave him the eye right back, mirroring his eyebrow and even the tilt of his head, huffing._

 _Snape sighed, flopping down in the snow with her. "Ugh, the ground is wet."_

" _It is snow, Severus," Hermione replied._

 _Snape grunted, tugging on the silver and green ribbons and the strangely out of place red and gold marigolds. He eyed her suspiciously._

" _What, Professor Sprout had a limited amount of flowers in the greenhouse!"_

" _Mmhmm."_

 _Hermione glared up at him, crossing her arms. "Fine, be a git if you must." She started to stand up._

 _Severus reached out and grabbed her sleeve. "I'm sorry, please— I'm just not— used to people giving me things. Unless it's a trap."_

 _Hermione sighed and sat down._

" _Please don't be angry," Severus pleaded softly._

" _I'd be happier if you'd open your box," Hermione mumbled._

 _Snape pulled his hair behind his ears and opened the parcel to expose a giant box. He eyed Hermione._

" _What? I said it was a box!" Hermione said._

" _You got me a box?" he said somewhat dubiously._

 _Hermione slumped._

 _Severus undid the latch and opened the lid and gasped._

 _A pristine pair of black dragonhide boots lay within, the fine scales shimmering across each boot. The smell of the leather wafted upwards, mixed with the fine oils used to condition the hide. He stared at the boots, his fingers running across the leather. He looked up at her, baffled._

" _Happy birthday, Severus," Hermione said._

" _But how—" Severus began, staring at her with wide eyes._

 _Hermione chuckled. "I heard that Slughorn wants to Apprentice you. Congratulations."_

" _But it's not official—"_

" _It's a secret, so it's only natural that everyone in Hogwarts knows about it," Hermione said. She grasped his hand. "And before you say it. You deserve them, and even if it doesn't pull through with Slughorn, I have no doubt someone will be ecstatic to take you on as a Potions apprentice."_

 _Severus pulled off his old, worn, oversized shoes and pulled on the boots, easing his feet down into them with a sigh of pure pleasure. The enchanted leather instantly resized around his calf, hugging it perfectly. "They're beautiful."_

 _Hermione smiled. "I'm glad you like them."_

 _Snape touched her cheek tenderly, his long fingers brushing against her skin and through her hair. "You are so kind to me, and I do not— cannot— fathom_ _ **why**_ _."_

" _You can be so thick sometimes," Hermione said. She turned her head away, closing her eyes._

" _I was thick, am thick—" Severus blurted. "I used to think Lily was my only friend. A real friend. And then Potter and his cronies— we've been at it since the Hogwart's Express. Him crowing that he wanted to be in the best house, Gryffindor, and me saying I wanted to be in Slytherin. Words became a fight. The fight became a grudge, and we spent so much time playing catch up to each other's retaliations, only I was a team of myself and they were a gang. My friend— my best friend— never believed I was wasn't asking for it, and a year before you came…"_

 _Snape closed his eyes. "They hung me by my ankles in front of everyone— everyone but a sodding teacher. They filled my mouth with soap. Pulled down my bloody PANTS exposing my—"_

 _Hermione turned to him, her hand grasping his._

" _I called her a Mudblood. A HORRIBLE word. I was angry. But she was standing there being all self-righteous and trying to save me— and I couldn't take it. I was bleeding, suddy, and hanging upside down. I had no wand and I—I— she never forgave me. Gods I tried to apologise. I sat in front of the sodding Gryffindor portal pleading to see her, but when she finally came out she told me we were through. That my friends," he trailed off, snorting. "That my friends were all Death Eaters and that I wanted to be one too. That they all called her a Mudblood anyway, so why should I be any different. That—she would never forgive me. She hasn't, but she'll forgive sodding Potter for years of bullying and torment. She'll forgive him for pushing her around, dropping her books everywhere, shoving her into walls, making fun of her. But not me."_

 _Snape's jaw tightened, his fist clenching. "So, if my bloody best friend can't see the worth in me, why should I believe anyone else could?"_

 _Hermione touched his face, her eyes closing as she ran her fingers across his eyebrows, nose, and mouth. "There is nothing in your face that marks you as a horrible person, Severus. Even good people make horrible choices, but that doesn't mean they are worthless. Even if you make mistakes, Severus, it's what you do with that knowledge that gives you worth or takes it away, and I do not see_ _ **you**_ _out there murdering people."_

 _Hermione's face grew serious and she opened her eyes, a slight glow filling them. "Have you killed anyone, Severus?"_

" _No!"_

" _Do you plan to?"_

" _No!"_

" _Have you ever wished to?"_

 _Severus flinched and turned his face away. "I have, you see? That makes me a horrible person."_

 _Hermione sighed. "But you haven't actually done it, have you? Unlike Sirius Black, you never actually tried. You thought about it. Imagined your tormenter dead, but you never actually DID it, did you?"_

 _Severus turned back, his eyes wide. "No."_

" _Then you are a good person, Severus. In your heart, you are a better man than many. There are others who bask in the 'light' and proclaim themselves better people, but their hearts are cold, spiteful, and weak. So strong in a group, but when stripped and alone, their courage fails them, and they fail to be good people and instead become bullies, bigots, and murderers."_

 _Hermione's eyes closed and she turned away. "You are not less deserving of love, Severus. If anything you deserve more, and I'm the horrible person."_

" _What? Why?!" Severus protested._

" _I envy Lily your love. I wish someone could one day want me the way you—" Hermione turned away. "I'm sorry," she said, standing up, flushing deeply in embarrassment._

 _Snape stayed her, his hand closing around hers. "Hermione, it's not Lily I want."_

 _Hermione turned, her face twisted with turmoil and confusion._

" _It's_ _ **you**_ _."_

" _But—" Hermione protested, resembling a doe caught in the headlights._

" _You are a lion— but for an instant— you were a doe." He brushed his fingers across her cheek, pressing his forehead to hers. "I would make you mine, if I thought, even for a moment, you would even accept such a reject as me."_

 _Hermione wove her fingers his hair. "You're not a reject.. If anything I am if you think I'm a doe."_

" _Only when you're vulnerable," he replied, brushing his thumb against her cheek. He took in a deep breath. "I want to show you something. I think I can finally do it."_

 _Hermione tilted her head._

 _Snape stood up, pulling out his wand. He point it out over the lake. "Expecto Patronum!" he exclaimed, and the end of his wand sputtered to life with a roar of a lioness, but the figure that formed out of it was a doe— silvery and blue as it danced in front of them._

 _Hermione's eyes widened. "She's beautiful." She smiled sadly. "Maybe if you show this to Lily, she'll believe you."_

 _Snape turned to her. "Why do you think this has anything to do with Lily?"_

" _But it's a doe—"_

" _Ask me."_

 _Hermione blinked._

" _Ask me what my happy thought was."_

 _Hermione shook her head. "I don't— It's Lily. It's so obvious. She's graceful. Beautiful. Wild. Free."_

 _Snape looked at Hermione with exasperation. "My happy thought was_ _ **you**_ _."_

" _I mean, she's pretty, popular. People love her— what did you say?"_

" _Hermione, my happy thought was you. Your smile when you look at me."_

 _Hermione's lip quivered. "But it can't be me, you—"_

" _I think I know my own mind," Severus mused._

 _Hermione gave him a pained look, but Snape wove his fingers through her curls. "You have a horrible image of Lily," he chided. "Almost as bad as mine was before I knew better."_

 _Hermione made a face. "But you—"_

" _We're quite a pair, aren't we?" Severus chuckled. "Me vehemently denying anyone could care for me and you doing the same only denying anyone could possibly catch my attention that wasn't Lily." He breathed against her skin, his cheek only barely brushing against hers. "Will you have me?"_

" _Yes," Hermione whispered, barely even heard above the sounds of the lake._

 _Severus tentatively pressed his lips to hers, nervous and unsure. There was a warm surge of magic between them, leaving them both breathless. They stared at each other, panting and recovering only to fall on each other with a heated kiss, their bodies producing heat of their own in the colder February air._

* * *

" _What is this?"_

" _A box."_

" _Severus," Hermione huffed._

" _You asked," he replied, lips twitching._

 _Hermione sighed. "What am I going to do with you?" she asked, fiddling with the box, opening it to discover a box full of fluff. She eyed the fluff somewhat suspiciously. Slowly, she reached into the fluff to discover an adorable plush leopard cub. She squeaked as she snuggled it. "Awwww."_

 _Severus rolled his eyes._

 _She blinked as something thunked into her face as she snuggled the plush leopard cub. She felt around the leopard's neck and found a cord. She followed the cord with her fingers until she found something hard and pointed. She tugged on it, and the cord snapped, freeing the object into her hand._

 _She stared._

 _A goblin silver lioness with green emerald eyes curved into a delicate and beautiful ring. She stared up at Severus, her eyes wide._

" _You could stop flapping your jaw like a fish and agree to marry me," Severus suggested._

 _Severus fell backwards as about two hundred kilos of happy lioness slammed into him and smooshed her head under his chin._

 _Severus lay back in the grass and coughed. "Is that a no?"_

 _Hermione proceeded to lick the whiskers right off his face with her sandpaper tongue._

 _A witch's voice screamed as she tore up the path back up to Hogwarts, yelling something about man-eating beasts._

 _Severus sighed. "You're insufferable," he muttered as the lioness licked his forehead. "And most people are dunderheads."_

 _Hermione changed forms, caging his head with her arms as her head descended and her mouth sealed over his. "Yes," she purred._

* * *

" _I can't tell you, Severus."_

" _ **Why?"**_

" _If I tell you what brought me here, you'll try to stop it. If you stop it, all of this will not happen. You and I will never happen. And I love you too much to risk that." Hermione's forehead touched his. "I love you. I have always loved you. Please. Trust me?"_

 _Severus' face twisted in anguish. "I trust you."_

* * *

" _We're both taking the Mark."_

" _Why?!" Hermione cried. "Why after all—"_

 _Lucius, Regulus, and Severus took her hands and squeezed them. "We have to. It's the only way we'll know what he's up to."_

" _He'll read your minds!"_

" _No, he won't. The Occlumency will protect us."_

" _I don't like it. I don't!"_

 _Severus touched her cheek. "You asked me once to trust you, my love. Trust us now. Please. Trust me."_

 _Hermione shook her head violently. "No!"_

 _Severus pressed his lips to her forehead. "If we do not, things that have to happen for you to happen may not happen. We must, Hermione— but this time, it will be for the right reasons." He took her hand, fingering the ring on her left ring finger. "This is for our future. No one has ever believed in me like you, Hermione. No one. Even Lucius has his doubts."_

" _Many," Lucius said dryly._

" _You are the best thing in my life, and I have to do this. We have to do this— because if we don't, you wouldn't have saved our lives."_

" _You wouldn't have saved us all from Lupin," Regulus said._

 _Lucius took Hermione's hand. "Please, my lady. Trust us now to protect your future."_

 _Hermione squeezed their hands. "I hate that you're right."_

 _Severus touched her cheek. "I love that you care enough."_

* * *

" _Get out of my house, and take that whore with you," Lily said, her face red and angry. "How dare you come here trying to scare us with your doomsayers shite. I know you have the Mark, Severus. Well I know who my true friends are, and I believe them before I'll believe you ever again!"_

" _Lily, please!" Severus pleaded._

" _You're a liar, Sev," Lily snapped as James came storming down the staircase._

" _Get out of here Snivellus," he hissed._

" _Please, will you just listen to what he has to—"_

 _ **SLAP!**_

 _Lily's hand slammed so hard into Hermione's face that blood dripped from her lower lip. "Get out of here, you Death Eater-loving bitch. You've done nothing but coddle Sev ever since you arrived. Nurturing his love for the Dark arts and keeping him from realising that he's on a path straight to hell? You make me sick! Maybe you'll learn better when he sticks you with a child and then leaves you for another, younger bitch."_

 _Severus started to raise his arm. James started to pull out his wand._

 _Hermione stayed Severus, shaking her head. "The Dark Lord is coming for you, Mr and Mrs Potter." Her voice was strangely cold, her eyes going a fathomless black. Her lip curled slightly even as her lips pursed together in a flat line. "And you will be betrayed by someone you think you can trust. If you value your lives. If you value your son's life. You will pull of stakes and leave for somewhere else. Far. From. Here. Trust no one."_

" _You just want us to isolate ourselves from our friends, the people who actually care about us!" Lily hissed._

" _Have I wronged you in a previous life?" Hermione asked, her voice empty._

 _Lily's face grew red. "You turned Sev against me. Rot in hell." She slammed the door in Hermione's face._

 _Hermione turned, her face no longer hiding emotion. "I should not have come tonight She might have listened to you if I hadn't been—"_

" _No, my love," Severus answered sadly. "She stopped listening to me on the day she realised you actually did— and that you understood me."_

" _It's not fair," Hermione said. "Harry deserves to have a family. Love. Parents who love him."_

" _No," Severus agreed. "It's not fair," he said, thinking of his fight with Lily on the stairs in front of the Gryffindor common room. "I stopped believing in fair a long time ago."_

 _Hermione squeezed his hand. "Come on, my love, let's go home."_

" _No."_

 _Hermione turned to him, confused._

" _Let's go to that little restaurant you love so much. The Muggle one."_

 _Hermione smiled. "You want to indulge my love for fish and chips?"_

 _Severus gave her a genuine smile. "Maybe you deserve a little indulging."_

* * *

 _Severus smiled as he fingered the silken scarf from the street vendor. The Muggle man stared at him and his robes, perhaps evaluating if he was a renegade priest. Hermione would like it. It was silk— and for some reason she always had a love for silken things. Sometimes she would touch them and look sad, as if she was missing someone, but then it would pass. "How much for this?" Severus asked._

" _Ten quid, sir," the man answered._

 _He counted it out and handed the man the money, taking the brightly-coloured scarf with him. It had a pair of leopard cubs on it— another thing Hermione was fond of. That and lions. Lions were so blatantly Gryffindor, though._

 _His dragonhide boots scuffed against the cement, and he paused, smiling. She had given them to him for his birthday, telling him that when he was a Potions master, he would need them for all the times he would have to avoid heavy cauldrons dropping on his toes. He'd called her mental, but he loved the gift. He'd been saving to get her a proper gift for her birthday, but then the fees for his Apprenticeship had come up. He'd told her he wasn't going to be able to apprentice that year, but she had looked at him and shook her head._

" _Just use the money you've been saving for my birthday, Severus," she had said as if gifts didn't matter. "I want to see you happy. That is more than enough of a gift for me."_

 _He had been trying to save enough for a downpayment on a nice cottage, knowing she liked Scotland far more than she let on. And there was one currently available just outside of Hogsmeade. Close enough to walk to, far enough away to avoid the hustle and bustle of so many tourists._

 _It was odd that she didn't want to apprentice alongside him. She had always seemed to have an uncanny knack for Potions. She could even counter his spells— the ones he made up! She'd always shooed him away and said "When you get your mastery, then you can teach me."_

 _It was… odd. Painfully selfless. She always put him first, and every time he tried to put her first, something would happen that required him to take care of himself. Yet— she never once complained, save for that she wished to see more of him._

 _The night they had married, it had been a very small affair. Lucius and Regulus witnessed, and they all went to Wilton's in London for dinner. Lucius treated, piling on the mixed grill fare with oysters, tomato and onion salad, and Lucius' own guilty pleasure of angels on horseback. Lobster had been the main affair, but they'd stopped really paying attention to what the food was to just enjoying the moment of happiness and peace, however fleeting._

 _Severus had tried to give her little things she liked. He thought about her often, still a little overwhelmed by the fact that someone like her cared about someone like him. Every little gift he gave her, she smiled as though it were the first thing he'd ever given her. Every time she smiled, it was like the first time— like after she had socked Potter in the face for being an arrogant wanker. For once, Potter hadn't been able to run to Dumbledore and tattle. He'd have to tell Dumbledore the truth: that a witch bloodied his nose and laid him flat._

 _Often._

 _Regularly._

 _Hermione surely knew her onions about dealing with Potter. It was almost as if she knew exactly what he was going to do before he did. She said it was ludicrous, of course. "People like him— you just know he'll never respect you. He'll respect that you can beat him into the ground, but he'll never respect you. So, I give him something to respect."_

 _Hermione had rightly queered Potter's pitch in bullying Severus— at least whenever she was around. Sadly, she hadn't always been around, and sometimes, he admitted to himself, it was because he wanted to be able to stand on his own two feet. That had strangely always ended badly, as if Potter and his crew always knew where he was. How— he had no idea. At first he had thought Lily told them where he was, but it had been eerie how he could find him in places he didn't even plan on being._

 _He looked up and saw Hermione coming out of the bakery, having grabbed their morning pastries from old man Quisenberry. The old baker loved her, as so many who were not former Gryffindors did. He would often slip in a few extras, telling her he looked forward to spoiling their kids._

 _Kids._

 _Would she even want kids?_

 _Kids with— him?_

 _He had always sworn he'd never want kids. He'd never have kids. He'd never be his father. But Hermione made it seem possible. The war made it seem like kids were never going to happen safely. Even Lucius had managed to work at having a child, but that was expected of a pureblood family. It was included in their marriage contract. He'd read it. It had scared him._

 _Regulus said he should read the one his parents had, but Severus had told him, "Thanks, but Merlin, no!"_

 _Hermione was waving at him, holding up the bag of baguettes and other heavenly baked goods. She smiled at him, her face like a radiant sun rising after a long, dark night. He realised no matter what happened, with her at his side, he could do what had to be done. He'd do it for their future._

 _The street traffic was much busier than usual, trucks and buses as well as cars zooming in all directions. Hermione shrugged at him, giving him a smile, waiting for the traffic to slow so she could walk across to meet him. He lifted the new scarf up to show her, and she grinned at him._

 _It filled his chest with an intense painful pleasure. Oh, how he'd miss her when he had to do his apprenticeship._

 _Suddenly, he saw two brown-clad figures— Aurors— coming up behind Hermione. He yelled out a warning, but she didn't hear him over the roar of traffic and loud music. He started to cross, dodging cars, but he was pushed back by a man._

" _Are you bloody daft! You'll kill yourself trying to cross!" a man yelled at him._

 _Severus looked up again. A large bus blocked his vision. It started to move, and he looked about frantically, searching for a safe place to Apparate that wouldn't alert the Muggles._

 _Hermione was gone._

 _The sack of fresh bread and pastries lay abandoned on the ground, scattered and trampled by random passersby._

* * *

 _He, Lucius, and Regulus had searched for days, weeks, and months for any trace of Hermione. Lucius' contacts with the Ministry hadn't even heard of Hermione. No record of her being arrested ever came up. Regulus had said that it was probably members of the order— but Severus had been to the meetings. If it had been the Order, then it had happened outside of the meetings._

 _Rumours said that it was Fabian and Gideon Prewett who had likely taken her. They had brought in a wild-haired female Death Eater and planned to throw her directly into Azkaban, but there was no record of it. But Severus knew in his heart the truth. Potter and Black were Aurors— and his visit to the Potter home to warn Lily had not gone well. Revenge was expected._

 _And what would have affected him like nothing else could?_

 _Hermione._

 _Severus had no allies in the Aurors office, not while James Potter and Sirius Black were there._

 _And then, one day, a rock shattered the kitchen window in his flat. He picked it up, and there was a sudden surge of magic. He tried to spit out a counter curse, but it was too late._

 _The rock dropped to the floor._

 _A few minutes later he stood up, frowning. He stared at the picture on the hearth— an empty space beside him as if someone had been there before. He frowned, his hand automatically going to his ring finger. He frowned even harder, pulling it off his finger._

 _The fuck?_

 _His lip curled in disgust. Someone was fucking with his mind, making him think he was married. The ring was of two lions entwined together._

 _Potter and Black._

 _Who else would make him a ring with something so blatantly Gryffindor?_

" _I love you."_

 _Severus flinched, the image of a bushy-haired witch smiling at him filled his heart with pain of a relationship that could never be his. Now, he knew it was a trick. No one, not even his mother, not even Lily could ever look at him with that kind of radiant love. He threw the ring into the fire, summoning a Fiendfyre to devour it completely until the gold and the contents of the hearth were gone._

" _Fucking Gryffindors," he cursed, his mind and heart filled with burning venom._

* * *

Severus shook his head, rubbing his temples. The flood of memories were coming back— things he didn't remember at all until—

Until what?

"Hrm, it says please forgive us," Hermione said with a sigh, picking up an ornate box she had unwrapped. "I guess everyone deserves a second chance."

" _ **Hermione, NO!"**_

Severus lunged towards the witch as she opened the box and a swirl of magic burst out of the box and surrounded her.

Hermione screamed in terror as her human shape reverted to her lion form. She roared in pain as the magic grabbed her by the throat and then pulled her into itself, dragging her into the box.

The box closed with a snap— and then simply disintegrated.

Severus fell to his knees, tilted back his head, and howled.

* * *

"I want it traced! I want them to figure out who did it! I want them to—"

" _ **Severus!"**_ Minerva yelled. " _ **Please!"**_

Kingsley was running a trace over the spot where Hermione had disappeared, his face pale. "It's time magic," he said. "This is way beyond me."

" _ **Who sent it?!"**_ Severus yelled, his fur standing on end.

" _ **I don't know!"**_ Kingsley yelled back, just as distressed.

Minerva cleared her throat. "If you two are quite finished?"

They glared at her.

Lucius, however, pointed to the scrap of heavy wrapping parchment that the box had come in. It was battered and reused— even the twine was frayed from multiple knottings. Kingsley pointed his wand at the parchment, running a trace.

"Weasley?" Kingsley said.

" _ **WHAT?!"**_ Severus roared.

The green flames of the floo abruptly came to life. "Severus? I need to come through right now!"

"We're fucking _**busy**_ right now, Amelia!" Snape yelled.

"This is _**far**_ more important than whatever shite you're doing!" Amelia's voice yelled back.

" _ **Severus Tobias Snape,"**_ Amelia's voice hissed through the crackling green flames. "Do _**not**_ make me call on your life debt to bring you to heel!"

"I don't _**OWE**_ you a life debt!"

"Well, I know someone who _**CAN!**_ "

"Yes, come on through!" Minerva said, glaring at Severus with nothing short of complete exasperation.

The flames of the floo flared, and Amelia stepped through, but the moment she stepped in the room, it roared to life again. The emerald flames flickered and wildly as a woman stepped through. Long, curly brunette tresses fell to past her shoulders to the middle of her back. Familiar amber eyes flashed as she straightened. A few delicate lines on her face showed her to be approximately in her late twenties and revealed the extent of her weariness. Her robes— black on black with only a slight hint of burgundy— fell around her like a shroud. Lines of seemingly endless buttons trailed up her arms and down her front. Goblin silver mastery laurels adorned the lapels of her collar.

"Hello, my love," she said, her expression both sad and tentative. "I have missed you. So _very_ much."

"Hermione?" Severus closed the gap in seconds. "How?" He looked as if he wanted to touch her, but he hesitated.

"Amelia's predecessor rescued me from a nasty curse," Hermione said. "That night we had dinner together. Two Aurors brought me in as a suspected Death Eater. Tortured me— ripped off my clothes to expose my arm and then they discovered that I was not a Death Eater, after all. To save their careers, they made me disappear— and modified the memories of all who had known me. But time is a fickle thing. The spells could only last only until the moment I passed myself in time. I could not exist outside the environs of the DoM while my younger self did. So I— did a little studying and prayed that when I was able to see you again, that you could somehow forgive me. There were things I could not tell you at first because I feared I would mess up the timeline for Harry, then, I feared that if I did I would lose you forever. And I could not bear that. Fear kept me away. Fear that one wrong step and something would happen that would keep me from going back in time and meeting you."

Severus let out a ragged breath, his paw gently touching her cheek. "Hermione. I— _remember_ you."

"Perhaps now we can get that cottage together," she replied, her small hands cupping his cheeks. "Have the litter of cubs and the white picket fence?"

Snape let out a choking cry, crushing her to him, and for the first time, his lion shape fell away— leaving but a man, tall and pale with a weary and wizened face. "Hermione."

"I love you," Hermione whispered into his ear, tears splashing down on his shoulder.

The floo flames flared up and Jabari leapt out, the mother Dark Weaver perched on his head. He bounded up to his now older mum, seemingly having none of the issues anyone else did with his younger-now-older mother.

 _Mum. Mummy. Happy, happy. Love. Love. Love. Together again._

Severus let out a ragged laugh, years seeming to disappear from his face. "I couldn't have said it better myself. Sans the mum part. That would be— strange."

Hermione smiled warmly. "I have missed you, my husband. Will you forgive me my deception?"

Severus' mouth descended upon hers in a fervent kiss, a heated wave of magic bursting forth from them both as their magic swirled together as two golden lions formed in sunlight. The lions roared, shaking the very walls of Hogwarts.

Kingsley let out an accompanying roar, followed by Minerva. From the infirmary, Viktor let out a roar as well. Lucius let out a rumbling, joyous roar as well.

The floo flared to life once more, this time it spat out a staggering figure whose head was covered by a hood. The room was alive with spiders, and they pounced on the interloper, spinning them into a cocoon faster than a few blinks. The body fell flat onto the floor as the spiders scurried into their favourite nooks and crannies. The Nundu cub sat victoriously on top of the invader's head, smashing his face into the floor.

"Mrowl," Jabari commented.

The lions padded over, sniffing over the uninvited guest.

"Nnngh," the bound man said, his voice a rasp half muffled by a silken gag.

Amelia pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. "You didn't have to bind him up."

"It would help if I knew who he was," Severus said, slightly perturbed by the interruption.

Amelia waved her wand, neatly unspinning the victim and saving the silk on a spindle.

"I think I'm going to be _sick_ ," the man groaned. He sat up, removing his hood, exposing a thicket of black hair and grey eyes. "You sure know how to welcome old friends."

" _ **Regulus?!"**_

* * *

 _A spiderling with a tiny bucket scurries across the screen and bumps into another spiderling._

 _"Oof!"_

 _"Sorry, Worrywart!"_

 _"It's okay. I'm resilient."_

 _"Whatcha doing?"_

 _"Waiting for the next chapter."_

 _Bucket scratches his abdomen with his rear legs. "Mmm.. okay. You might want to get some rest. She just posted this."_

 _Worrywart the spiderling sulks. "I'm still going to wait."_

 _Bucket settles in beside her. "I'll keep you company."_

 _"Thanks!"_

* * *

 **A/N:** Class starts next week, so updates will be lesser and further between as studies must come first. Unfortunately, I'm not Hermione and know it all ahead of time.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** School is back in session, so it's back to nose + grindstone = no sleep. Updates will be few and far between. Thank you for your understanding.

 **Beta Love:** The Dragon and the Rose, Dutchgirl01, and Flyby Commander Shepard

 **Who Needs Enemies With Friends Like This?**

Chapter 3

 _Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven. Tryon Edwards_

"How are you even _alive_?" Severus asked with no little astonishment as he stared at Regulus intently.

Regulus sipped his tea and pointed his pinky at Hermione. "She saved me."

Severus' eyebrows asked the silent question.

Regulus tugged at his collar and undid a line of buttons exposing his chest. In the middle of his sternum was an emerald that had been sunken into his breastbone. "Portkey straight to Mungos. I landed in the middle of the front desk along with about twenty Inferi."

"That must have been quite a sight—" Severus replied. "But why did you hide?"

Regulus looked at the bottom of his cup and set it down. "One, I left a rather horrible note for the Dark Lord when I took his locket Horcrux—" He sighed. "Two—"

He pulled up his sleeve and exposed a perfectly pristine left forearm. "I may have been saved by a lioness. Again. But I couldn't show my muzzle in public until now. My parents would have murdered me, hell, my own brother would have murdered me for being a Death Eater. It wasn't safe to be a lion _and_ an ex-Death Eater. So I stayed with Hermione, and I think the pride bond helped us survive the years together before we could show ourselves in public again. Amelia gave us both jobs with the Unspeakables, and we _never_ left the DoM without our uniforms. We worked in the background, only doing what could be done without messing up the timeline."

Regulus frowned. "It was agony for her—being away from you. And then one day, she saw you in Diagon Alley and saw you had taken off her ring."

Regulus fidgeted. "She took it really hard. She thought—she thought—"

"I'd rather forget her than honour her memory," Severus finished quietly.

Regulus nodded. "Yes. She—spent the first few years as a lioness. She didn't even _try_ to be human to speak to other people. She told me it was better to be a lion and remember that there was no future for her than fool herself."

Severus clenched his fist. "I didn't know. I didn't _**know!**_ "

"We figured it out when we realised everyone that had known you that was still up to—the surface—well, you know, not hidden away like us—didn't remember her. I did. But everyone else—even Dumbledore—didn't remember her. We don't know how. We don't know when, but somehow, some _ **way,**_ someone managed to wipe the memories of everyone that knew her. Even you. I thought, surely if anyone would remember her it would have been you."

Regulus shook his head. "We had _no_ idea. And you know Hermione. Once she found out, it took an act of the gods themselves to keep her from storming Azkaban and laying waste to—well, everyone."

Severus snorted. "That's Hermione alright."

"But—she still had hope. Hope that she'd be reunited with you once her future self went back in time." Regulus grasped Snape's arm when he saw him flinch. "You didn't _know_. How could you?"

Snape's fists clenched, fur and claws forming fluidly as the shift to lion-man came quickly. "Aurors took her away from me," he growled, teeth grating together. I saw her—she smiled at me as she was trying to cross the street to get to me. A bus was coming. I saw figures moving behind her, then came the bus, and then she was _gone_. Her sack of purchases from the bakery were strewn all across the sidewalk—then there was a brick. It came through the window. I picked it up and—"

Regulus scratched his head. "I think whoever did it got most of them during one of those Order meetings you used to tell us about. Lucius wasn't terribly hard to find being as conspicuous as he is, but how else could they have gotten McGonagall _AND_ Dumbledore together?"

Severus frowned. "Who? Who that wasn't killed on top of everything that went on already? At first I thought it was those Prewett twins. I remember the hair. I remember how they _**hated**_ anyone that might even possibly be a Death Eater. But then—Dolohov and his groupies killed them. Nothing changed. I don't really think it was them."

"Hermione said that it was them that brought her in," Regulus said. "But it wasn't them that stripped her down."

Snape's paw tightened around Regulus suddenly. "Wait, you mean to say they stripped her down completely? Not just her arm?"

"They thought she was a Death Eater, Severus. You _know_ how they treated anyone who they had even the slightest suspicion of being involved with the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. And—" Regulus flinched. "Well, you know what they thought of her. Even while we were still in school."

Severus' eyes darkened. "They were particularly cruel to her because of Potter and his little gang of thugs."

"It did not help that Lily Evans did her very best to turn as many females as she could against her with her—"

"Decisive strikes against her virtue," Severus finished.

Regulus nodded. "Yes. I know you cared about Lily, Severus, but she was such a—"

"Daft cow."

Regulus aspirated some of his tea, coughing it all over himself. " _ **Severus!"**_

Snape gave him the arched eyebrow he was renowned for. "I want to know who put her through that. I want them to _writhe_."

"You aren't the only one, brother," Regulus assured him. "You may trust in _that_."

Severus sighed. "I am so glad you are alive, Regulus."

"And I am glad you are, old friend. Especially since Hermione wasn't there to keep you out of trouble."

Snape snorted. "Oh really? _Me_? The troublemaker?"

"Brother, you and I know well that the only reason you didn't murder those boils on the buttocks of humanity back then was because _SHE_ eclipsed every single negative thought we ever had."

Severus closed his eyes. "I wonder how things would have been had she been there—giving us that tired smile. No matter how bad things were, she always had one for us, even if it was out of pure exasperation. All of us, together."

Regulus nodded. "You know when she said 'Regulus, I need to press this into your sternum' I just let her? I didn't even ask. I just—"

"Trusted her."

"Yeah."

Severus looked up, his black eyes conflicted. "Did she ever—find someone else?"

Regulus snorted. "She missed her spiders and her cub. She ended up mothering all the baby animals in the holding pens. She had a line of them following her around like baby ducks. Gargoyle pups, phoenix chicks, hippogriff hatchlings, gryphon cubs, baby sphinx, and even a sodding ironbelly."

Severus' jaw dropped.

"Yeah, an ironbelly. When the mother Dark Weaver started to visit, we realised time was starting to sync up again. Weavers are sensitive to such things, I guess. Then her cub started to visit too. Just _**POOF**_. Showed up in the floo like it was nothing. We started to prepare. Amelia kept a close eye on things—but we had to be sure that we timed it just right. Her future self had to get ported back in time, and she had to show up shortly after so you wouldn't torture yourself over it."

Snape gave Regulus a _look_.

"Oh, don't give me that, Severus. You know as well as I that you would have flogged yourself into Oblivion if she hadn't come back exactly when she did."

"You're right."

"Of course, I'm right."

"You're also _insufferable_."

Regulus smiled. "That too." He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously.

"You heard about how Umbridge summoned all the Horcruxes together and conveniently brassed-off Sekhmet?"

"Yes, we have Madam Umarachnid in a wonderful terrarium in the main lobby of the dangerous creatures ward."

Snape snorted. "Unspeakables, huh?"

"Mmmhmm."

"You know," Snape said. "There were a few nights I came home after enjoying the Dark Lord's pleasure—bleeding inside, beaten. I woke up in my bed, in pain but alive. She watched over me, didn't she—knowing full well that I wouldn't know her from Adam."

"She couldn't bear to see you suffer. Alone. Believing yourself unloved. Unforgiven."

"But she _knew_ I would not have been able to remember her."

Regulus let out his breath slowly. "Yes, she knew."

"And here I was thinking I'd suffered alone. She was suffering right along with me. Close enough to touch but never touching."

"Neither of you have to suffer anymore," Regulus said.

"You're wrong there," Severus said, standing up, his whiskers twitching.

"Eh?"

"Now we have to suffer your company together. _Again_."

Regulus pouted. "Why can't _**I**_ be the loveable one?"

"I have never quite forgiven you for trying to woo Hermione out from under me."

Regulus' eyes widened. "You weren't even showing any interest back when I was trying!"

Snape narrowed his eyes.

Regulus slumped. "You were _always_ interested, weren't you?"

Severus sighed, offering Regulus his paw to pull him up. "I was doomed from the very moment she fell into our lives, Regulus."

* * *

Dumbledore dropped his arm, his wand held lightly in his hand. "I cannot believe it. I sense nothing."

Moody pushed up closer and performed several additional scans, just to be certain. "Aye, Albus. This here is the root of it, or at least—it was. You may not sense it, but I can, and I am not sure why."

"How were we not able to detect this until now?" Albus asked. "How is it that no one could before?"

"This is truly insidious, Albus," Alastor said. "Something—very powerful was anchored to this gargoyle, to its lifeforce. We—you, me, anyone wouldn't have been able to detect it, but something changed somehow. It's unravelling."

"I still do not know how you can sense this yet I cannot?" Albus said, frowning.

"I'm not sure myself, Albus." Moody ran his wand all over the gargoyle. The gargoyle eyed him suspiciously, snorting.

"Albus, how strictly does the gargoyle guard your office?"

"Very?"

"No student ever—made friends with him?"

Albus frowned. "He makes friends all the time, Alastor, as you well know. But he does not allow anyone up unless they are permitted to do so."

"You know," Moody said. "Gargoyles are strange creatures. They munch on rocks and gems and that ends up becoming a part of their skin—protecting them from so many things. I think—" Moody narrowed his eyes. "I think someone slipped the gargoyle a micky. A very special rock or a very special gem."

A low rumbling hgghhh hnnnggghing roar came down the hall as the pride arrived, attracted by the commotion. Kingsley was in the lead this time, padding up to the gargoyle and snuffling the beast curiously. Viktor sniffed the gargoyle's side while Lucius took the other. Hermione unleashed a horde of spiderlings and the mother Dark Weaver to scurry over the gargoyle's body.

"Yup! Dark stuff!"

"Dark stuff!"

"We can smell it!"

"Old though."

"Really old."

The gargoyle's head tilted in curiosity as he was sniffed and inundated with spiders, sneezing once.

"Eeee!" a spiderling said, tumbling off his muzzle, rescued by one strand of strong spidersilk. He dangled and skittered back up.

"It's not the killer kind of Dark stuff," one spiderling announced.

"Obfuscate Dark stuff," another confirmed.

"Check for us, Mummy?"

The mother Dark Weaver tapped her legs, moving from place to place over the gargoyle.

Hermione took on her human form. "Joke says it's a hidden spell. Unlike other Dark magic, it's concealed in the weave of the gargoyle's lifeforce."

"Yo-kah?" Alastor tried to sound that out. "Her?" The pointed to the mother spider.

The mother spider bounced.

"Why doesn't she speak like the babies?"

Hermione shrugged as Joke scurried up her arm and snuggled into her neck. "She's a more private spider. She speaks directly to my mind. The babies have no filter."

Alastor shook his head. "Oookay."

The spiderlings bounced, seemingly excited about something.

Hermione tilted her head. "Now they are just showing off."

Alastor looked at Hermione, eyebrow cocked.

"Auror Moody," Hermione said. "Can you tell me something?"

"Eh?"

"What's my name? My _full_ name." Hermione asked.

"Hermione Jean Granger."

Hermione gave a tight smile. "Try again, but—" She thrust Joke into Alastor's arms. The mother spider looked up at Moody, legs wiggling. "Hold Joke, please." Hermione gathered up an armful of spiderlings and hoisted them into Dumbledore's arms. "Have some babies."

Albus made a face, but held the armful of wriggling spiderlings.

"Eee!"

"He tickles!"

The spiderlings whispered to each other and then gave Hermione a combined look.

"Erm—Auror Moody, you're going to have to trust me here. I need you to touch Albus. Skin to skin so your magic blends."

"What?"

"Please."

"Sesheta. Miss Sesheta," Albus murmured. "That was your name. You—"

"You _**married**_ Snape!" Moody snarled.

Severus drummed his claws against his arm, his lip curling slightly.

Hermione blinked slowly, leaning towards Moody with a distinctly feline manner. "Now is that any way to treat someone whose wedding you got rip-roaringly knackered at and danced with Minerva until you _literally_ dropped?"

Kingsley snort-jerked and eyed Minerva. The silver lioness gave him a loving slurp across the muzzle.

"I—" Moody frowned, stroking the mother spider with unconscious soothing motions. Joke purred, radiating pure contentment.

"Merlin—I _remember_. I—" His head tilted. "Such rage at— _gods_ —Severus. I—"

Coira joined her mum, clinging to her back and nudging under Alastor's hand like a friendly cat seeking pets, adding her own energy into the mix to help Moody break through the spell.

Moody clutched the mother Dark Weaver and Coira. "I forgot everything. How did I forget—"

Dumbledore's face darkened. "If this gargoyle _was_ the focal point to a mass memory erasure that goes back to when when Miss Sesheta—Granger—damnation." Albus grumbled. "If Madam Snape's disappearance was around when I remember, then this spell has been in place for well over a decade."

"Can this be unravelled?" Moody asked. "By you as headmaster of Hogwarts?"

"Yes, now that I know it is here," Albus said, his hand clenching his wand with a slight tremble.

"But can you tell who cast it?" Moody asked.

Dumbledore frowned. "I may be able to trace the memory of the event that cast it. The spell requires more power than I have within just myself, however. The spell was not very popular for that reason. People did not enjoy the idea of losing their life's magic to find out how someone else lost their life or commit a crime."

Hermione had returned to lioness form and Joke pounced on her head, happy to be reunited with her favourite lion. She looked up at Severus.

"Hermione says that the Pride can funnel the necessary energy for your spell through Hogwarts itself. You are Headmaster, so you can direct the magic, but the Pride _IS_ of Hogwarts, so we can merge with it and give you access to it."

Dumbledore frowned at Severus. "How is it that the Pride has access to—"

Viktor coughed, taking on his human form. "Price of save life. Bound to magic here to help protect it. School exist. _We_ exist. Part Hogwarts blessing, part Sekhmet."

"I think what he's really asking, laddie, is why can't he just tap into it as Headmaster," Moody said, stroking Coira's back with his finger.

"You want be lion too?" Viktor asked, puzzled.

"Of course not," Albus answered.

Severus scoffed. "He'd be a _dreadful_ lion."

Albus shot him a look.

"Oh, do tell me you'd be happy running around on all fours eating freshly-killed oxen and zebra."

Albus frowned.

"Point made." Severus shook his head.

"Doesn't it disturb you that _YOU_ enjoy running around on all fours and eating freshly-killed animals?"

The lions exchanged glances and shook their heads together.

Dumbledore sighed.

Viktor seemed confused as to the nature of the Headmaster's actual gripe and settled for giving a wide leonine yawn as he settled back on all fours.

Albus sighed. "What do I have to do.

Severus flinched. "As much as this grieves me," he said, putting out his paw-like hand. "Take my hand and Alastor's. There is something about Alastor's magic that seems strangely attuned to the spell. A relation, perhaps."

Hermione's head shot up. She gave Severus a significant look.

"Potter."

"What?" Moody asked, frowning.

"Your adoption of young Mr Potter," Severus said.

Alastor seemed to realise where he was going with that connection. "You think his father may have had something to do with it?"

"Perhaps," the Potions master replied slowly.

Albus sighed and begrudgingly took both Moody's and Snape's hands together. He held his wand awkwardly as he adjusted. "This may take a while."

Moody grunted, and Severus said nothing as Dumbledore began to weave his spell.

* * *

After having visited with Harry, Sirius was feeling pretty good. Old Mad-Eye was still the crotchety Scotsman he always was, but it seemed he had mellowed somewhat from his Auror days. Perhaps, he thought, Alastor had made the change for Harry, or Harry had encouraged it simply by being there. Harry still seemed suspicious of him, the supposed best mate of his dad, but Sirius was confident that they could have a proper relationship. In time, at least.

Time is what they both needed, and Sirius knew he wasn't father material after his time in Azkaban. There were so many holes in his memories. The healers said that was to be expected after having been Dementor chow for so long, but he couldn't help feeling it was something more.

Every time he saw Harry, he saw James. He _literally_ saw James. He had to shake himself to slowly see the Lily-green eyes and the slight differences in body type. And every time he saw James, he would be filled with the need to do the old things they used to do: plot their pranks and how to get back at Slytherin. It was so hard to remember that James was long dead. He'd try to remember Lily's face but it would come and go.

Still, he felt better than he had in years, Azkaban notwithstanding. While he realised he really didn't have much to compare it against after his glorious home life growing up in Grimmauld Place. He found he missed his brother—his _real_ brother. He missed James, of course, but he missed those times when they were younger kids laying back on the balcony and staring up at the stars trying to find their namesakes. Sirius had failed to find the north star often, and Regulus never let him live that down. For a boy named after the brightest star in the sky, Sirius sort of puttered out in an embarrassing fashion.

As he stood in front of the alcove leading up to the headmaster's office, the pathway rearranged itself to expose the guardian. The gargoyle growled at him, seemingly crankier than he remembered.

"Hey, I'm here to see the headmaster," Sirius said.

A low rumble seemed to shake the floor as a black-maned mahogany lion and a pitch black lion pushed past the gargoyle. They oozed out of the space like a liquid, proving the old adage that felines actually were liquids and not mammals at all. He, on the other hand, was very much the typical dog, far too quick to jump to the defence of his loved ones and blind to any possible consequences. To him, only the immediate gratification seemed to matter, no matter how much he attempted to do or prove otherwise. It was a strength on one day or a failing on another.

The gargoyle stepped aside, allowing entry to the headmaster's office, and Sirius rushed up them, not desiring to linger too long in the presence of such enormous examples of leonine body mass.

Lions.

There was _some_ thing about lions.

He rubbed his temple but it was gone like so many other memories the Dementors had so gleefully devoured.

The lions were staring at him. Suspiciously.

Sirius rubbed his head before ducking past the gargoyle and heading up the stairs. As he reached the headmaster's office, his hair stood on end, and he turned slowly to see the lions squeezing back through and up the stairs, their massive bulk barely clearing the sides of the stairwell.

His father had a stuffed lion in the library. His great, great, great someone or another had been attacked by one back in his day. The stories had always been larger than life, but the lion itself hadn't been that impressive. It's coat had worn through the ages even with the house-elves tending it. But these lions were nothing like that. These—

Something itched in his memory, trying to claw its way out.

A lioness' roar. The flashing of teeth.

Remus being torn to shreds by fang and claw.

James screaming.

" _It's such a pity you are being so harassed at school," a voice said, yet the memory refused to reveal the source. "Meddling in your affairs, hrm?"_

Radiance like the sun itself burned into his retinas as the memory of—

The snarling face of a demonic lioness goddess come to earth, echoed in her—

Her—

Avatar.

The lioness that was stalking up the stairs even now.

It was the same lioness.

* * *

" _I_ _ **hate**_ _her!" Lily's voice screeched as she threw a random hex at him._

 _Sirius ducked, only barely dodging in time. The wall cracked where she had hit it._

" _Why do you even care, Lils? Sirius asked, sitting down beside her._

" _All she has to do is spread her legs and all of Slytherin loves her," Lily hissed._

" _What's it matter, Lily? It's Slytherin." Sirius scrunched his face. "You're getting married soon. It won't matter. None of it will."_

" _He should be SUFFERING!" Lily hissed, fist clenching. "I cried my eyes out with Molly over this stupid wedding when she asked where we were going to set Sev and when he called me that—he said he was sorry, but he's not acting sorry anymore! He's just sleeping with that WHORE! She's a bloody Death Eater, just like all of them are!"_

" _You should be thinking about all the happy years you're going to have with my best mate, Lil," Sirius said._

 _Lily frowned and sighed. "You choose now to the voice of reason?"_

 _Sirius frowned. "It can happen."_

" _I was just so angry!" Lily lamented. "I told Molly everything. How that slut just fell from the sky and got you all in trouble. Charms all of Slytherin. Even Sev—_ _ **ARGHHH!**_ _I told Molly she's just a Death Eater like Sev, now. Probably killing innocent people like that other bitch, Bellatrix."_

" _Lil—"_

" _She_ _ **believes**_ _me. Arthur_ _ **believes**_ _me!"_

" _It's not that I don't—"_

 _Lily sighed. "It doesn't matter anymore. Fabian and Gideon said they would take care of it."_

" _Take care of what, Lil?"_

 _Lily was silent._

" _Take care of_ _ **what**_ _, Lily?"_

 _Lily picked up her wedding invitations and began to scribble on them almost maniacally._

 _Sirius placed his hand over hers, stilling her quill._

" _Everything okay?" Lily asked. "I won't have to worry about them crashing my wedding?"_

 _Sirius' eyebrows furrowed. "Just worry about your invitations, Lil. Worry about spending a lifetime with Prongs. Worry about what you're going to name the baby."_

 _Lily squared her jaw and wrote furiously._

* * *

" _Padfoot, you have to_ _ **do**_ _something!"_

" _What? Do what, Moony?"_

" _You need to get in here right now and stop them!"_

" _Who? Stop who? Stop what? Damn it, Moony, you're not making any sense!"_

" _They took Hermione Sesheta—Snape!"_

" _Who? Who took her? And why the hell would we even care, Moony?"_

 _Remus slammed Sirius against the wall, his elbow tight against his throat. "Padfoot, I love you. Like a brother. But I swear to the gods if you don't pull your head out of your arse and realise that Hermione Sesheta saved my life on the night you tried to use me as a murder weapon, I'm going to go to McGonagall to learn how to become an Animagus and find a way to take a chunk out of that arse with my_ _ **teeth**_ _."_

 _Sirius' eyes widened in shock. "M-Moony!"_

" _That woman saved three students' lives that night, Padfoot," Remus said, his voice a harsh whisper. "Four, if you count me. Five, if you count Severus standing up for you so you didn't go to Azkaban, which I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have even considered doing if not for HER influence. Now, if you do not immediately march your sorry, fleabitten arse in there and help her, I'm going to start working on my new Grim-hide throw rug!"_

 _Sirius balked and swallowed hard. "Okay, okay. Gods, Moony, when did you get so aggressive?"_

 _Remus glowered. "Look, she needs help—and I think—"_

" _What is it Moony?"_

 _Remus gave him a look. "I think she was set up. But I don't know by who just yet. "Something big is going down here, Pads," Remus whispered. "I don't know what or how, but—I'm going to try and figure out what it is and soon."_

 _Sirius frowned. "There is something else, isn't there?"_

 _Remus finally relaxed, letting go of his friend. "I'm not sure yet."_

" _What is it? Something is bothering you."_

 _Remus squared his jaw. "It's nothing."_

" _It's not nothing Remus," Sirius said. "What has you all in a tizzy?"_

" _She was just frustrated with—"_

" _Remus!"_

 _The sandy-haired wizard winced, "She said she could never trust me to be Harry's godfather because I was a bloody werewolf. I had been touched by_ her!"

 _Sirius blinked. "She said that to you?"_

" _No!" Remus said bitterly. "She said it when she thought I wasn't listening. To Prongs. At the wedding."_

" _At the—Fuck, Remus that was a year ago! You're just saying this now?"_

" _I have to be sure it's her talking!" Remus said._

 _Sirius frowned._

" _What are you saying?"_

 _Remus's face was a picture of pure frustration. "I think someone is filling her head with—I don't know! Something! Something that—and I don't think she's alone. I think we've all been under the influence of something… or someone, for years. I always thought it was just the wolf within. And until the Goddess came down and burned it out of me, I didn't know any different!"_

" _All of us?"_

" _You, Prongs—Wormtail, I'm not sure quite about him either, but for entirely different reasons."_

 _Sirius put his hand on Remus' shoulder. "You're starting to sound downright paranoid, mate."_

" _I know bloody well what I sound like, Sirius!" Remus snapped. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Sorry. I—it's why I have to be sure. Just—get her out of there, Sirius. Go. Now. We'll meet up at your flat, and I'll try to tell you what I know."_

 _Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, Moony. But I want an explanation for why I'm sticking my neck out for the likes of Hermione sodding Snape."_

 _Remus shook his head adamantly. "If what I think is right, then we're_ _ **all**_ _going to want to kick ourselves in the head."_

" _Alright, I'll go—Remus—"_

" _Yeah?"_

" _I trust you, you know that right?"_

" _I know," Remus replied. "But I still want to kick you right between the legs at times."_

" _Ouch, Moony. Why're you being so mean to me?" Sirius moaned._

" _You asked for it," Remus replied, pointing to the Ministry. "Hurry up."_

 _Sirius saluted and left Remus standing under a low-flickering lamp. Remus' shoulders slumped as he took in a deep, cleansing breath. "Please, let me be wrong."_

* * *

 _Sirius burst into the Auror's office, his hair moving like it was on fire. He heard screaming, and the screaming was more than a little shrill._

" _Look at her arm!" James' voice hissed. "That's all the proof we need!"_

" _Get your hands OFF of me!" a female voice cried._

 _The sound of flesh against flesh, the connect of arm against face, rang out as cloth ripped. James jerked open the sleeve, ripping the woman's robes clear off her body, leaving her exposed—including both arms._

 _Both pristine arms._

" _That's impossible!" James hissed._

" _You told us she was for SURE a Death Eater, Potter!"_

" _She IS a Death Eater!"_

" _Well unless you happen to have found a way to cover a Mark up, idiot, she's not Marked!"_

" _It's a trick!"_

" _No magic on earth can cover up a MARK, you know that!"_

" _She has one!" James yelled frantically. He ripped off the remains of the witch's clothing to expose her legs. "She's always spreading her legs for them, so maybe they Marked her THERE!"_

 _The woman screamed in horror and mortification. The men panicked, trying to hold her down._

" _She's clean!"_

" _She's not a Death Eater!"_

" _N-no! This isn't possible!"_

 _Hermione was screaming and struggling, and Sirius ran forward._

" _What the bloody FUCK are you doing?!" Sirius bellowed loudly, wading in._

 _Hermione freed her arm and her leg, and she kicked out hard, knocking one Auror flat on his back as her knuckles connected with the other's face. James whipped out his wand and hit her with a stunner, even as the others did the same. Hermione went flying backwards, hit with a chain of stunners._

 _Sirius flung James into the side of the holding cell. "What the FUCK, mate?"_

" _She's a DEATH EATER!"_

" _She's NOT! Look at her ruddy arm!"_

 _James looked down, his face twisted in conflict. "N-no! It_ _ **can't**_ _be!"_

" _It is, damnit!" Sirius forced James' head around to look at Hermione. "It is! Merlin's undershorts, mate, look what you've done!"_

 _James winced. "She was so sure," he gasped hoarsely._

 _Sirius frowned. "Sure about_ _ **what**_ _? Who?"_

 _James just seemed to babble incoherently._

 _Sirius shook him. "Prongs. Snap out of it, mate!"_

 _James made a face—confused, torn._

" _ **SHIT!"**_

" _Gideon, what—"_

" _She's DoM!"_

" _ **WHAT?!"**_

 _Gideon wiped the blood from his mouth where Hermione had kicked him straight to the mouth with her dragonhide boots. He pointed to the thin collar around Hermione's neck, so fine that it could have been a piece of jewelry._

" _ **YOU SAID SHE WAS A DEATH EATER!"**_ _Fabian roared, taking James by the shoulders, jerking him out of Sirius' arms, and slamming him against the bars of the cell. The three Aurors got into a tussle, throwing each other around as they attempted to attack, defend, or otherwise blame the other._

 _Sirius dove into the cell, grabbing Hermione up into his arms and rushing out of the holding area. "Fuck!" he cursed, hurrying down the hallways to the DoM. Guilt took their pounds of flesh from him, driving him into even deeper guilt. He'd been just like them. He had believed her to be nothing but a Death Eater or a Death Eater's whore—but she wore the telltale tag from the Department of Mysteries. A tag that he—they—every single one of them as trained Aurors should have checked for before—_

 _Before they fucking ripped off her clothes and hit her with barrage of thrice-cursed STUNNERS!_

 _DoM._

 _The first fucking thing they should have seen._

 _Any newbie Auror got his arse royally chewed out if they forgot to check such things. Agents of the DoM. People protected by the DoM—even setting finger on one was grounds to be fired, thrown into Fiendfyre, and lost in the pits of Oblivion._

 _He slammed his fist into the authorisation plate placed on a small table beside the hallway door. The door slid open exposing another closed door._

" _Auror emergency authorisation code Black, Sirius A-14-32-6-Omega-Foxtrot."_

 _The door slid open, and he stumbled through, carrying Hermione along with him._

 _An Unspeakable stood in the adjoining alcove, green flame-wreathed eyes—the badge of their office—glowing from behind a white blindfold._

" _She needs help!" Sirius cried, staggering._

 _The Unspeakable said nothing, or at least nothing he could understand, but they placed a gentle hand against Hermione's forehead as he helped Sirius lower her limp body onto one of the cushioned seats._

 _The Unspeakable hissed, it, her, his—their voice a disturbing rattle of hiss, rattle, and breaking glass. A hawk Patronus zoomed out from the Unspeakable's wand, and they transfigured a blanket out of the nearby pillow, wrapping it snugly around Hermione's body. They glowered darkly at Sirius._

" _I brought her here! Don't give_ _ **me**_ _that look!" Sirius bit out._

 _People rushed in. Unspeakables and a woman cloaked in deep red robes and a black hood. She pulled the hood down from her face exposing short silver hair and piercing blue eyes._

" _What happened to her?" she demanded._

" _She was hit with multiple stunners," Sirius answered._

" _While starkers?!"_

 _Fortunately the woman didn't bother waiting for an answer, and she hurriedly ran her wand over Hermione. She pulled the blanket down to expose Hermione's neck and her wand blazed bright red and green._

" _Maximus, dispel this sodding dampening field!" the woman snapped. "Hodges, break that damned hex! Put a tracer on this magic tap and find out who the hell placed it on her. NOW!"_

 _She hooked her finger around the DoM collar and the magical clasp opened. She flung the offending collar away, making the wizards chase after it to finish their tasks. The moment she did, there was a flood of hot, molten magic that flowed out of Hermione's body. Her eyes glowed. Her body jerked, and she burst from the blanket around her as a wrathful golden lioness. She roared, pouncing on Sirius and slamming him down to the ground, her huge paws pinning him to the ground as her fangs bared but an inch from his face. There was fire in her eyes—flames of the burning sun._

 _The older witch placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Peace, my friend. He is the one who brought you here."_

 _The fire seemed to subside as the lioness' shoulders relaxed. She stepped off of Sirius, but not before she planted one large paw directly to his groin on her way. A few of the Unspeakables surreptitiously checked their own privates in a gesture of obvious male sympathy._

 _The lioness rubbed up against the elder witch with clear affection, rumbling lowly.._

" _There now, young lady," the elder witch soothed. "You should go speak with Amelia so she knows what is going on so that she can tell her boss what is going on."_

 _Hermione whuffled the witch's face, snuffling and tickling her with her long whiskers._

" _Fffffft," she replied, giving her a playful shove. "Go get yourself properly checked out by Healer Faulkner. You know how it goes."_

 _The lioness yawned, showing all of teeth and lolling her tongue._

" _Hnnnngh," Hermione rumbled, placing both paws on the witch's shoulders and practically toppling her over. She rubbed both cheeks with her whiskers and muzzle and gave her a slurp across the nose._

 _The elder witch sighed and shoved the lioness off with an amused look. "Go on now."_

 _The lioness lazily trotted down the hallway, giving a low, rumbling roar. A gaggle of young children, all decked out in uniforms, squealed in delight and pounced the lioness, following her down the hallway as they clutched her tail like a lifeline._

" _Ma'am," Hodges said, eyes flicking to where Sirius was rolling on the floor cupping his groin. "Someone put a magical dampening spell on our identification collar."_

" _What? Hecate's hairpins, how is that possible?"_

 _Hodges looked uncomfortable. "It shouldn't be for most spell levels."_

 _The elder witch narrowed her eyes. "Take that to Finklestein. I want it traced, and I want to know how someone was powerful enough to dampen a natural form transformation."_

" _Yes, ma'am," Hodges agreed, using his wand to guide the tampered collar by levitation._

" _Thea," Maximus said. "There are only a few people strong enough to put a spell on an Department collar without us noticing it."_

 _The elder witch, narrowed her eyes. "I know, Maximus—and it almost killed her. Amelia will want to know every horrid detail."_

 _The wizards nodded. "We'll make the report and have it memory vialed to her."_

 _Thea frowned. "If it is who I think," she said grimly. "He is untouchable."_

 _The wizards scowled, looking down the hallway where the lioness had left._

 _Thea turned her gaze to Sirius. "Auror Black, I am sure our boss will wish to speak with you as well—as of yesterday."_

 _Sirius's eyes widened._

" _Hermione is probably one of the most warm-hearted and kind individuals we have here, Auror Black, and she just let you off with a very solid warning to your privates. Care to tell me what you could have possibly done that would invoke such an automatic reaction?"_

 _Sirius flushed uncomfortably. "I—let's just say I had anger issues in school, and she was a seemingly logical target."_

" _What, Mr Black, is an seemingly logical target?" Thea asked, eyes narrowing._

 _Sirius averted his eyes. "She was Slytherin. Like my family."_

 _Thea's face crinkled, her mouth forming a thin line. "Judging people on their school House is a horrible and childish way to put value onto a person. Judge a person by their deeds, not by rumour and bigotry, because that is what it is, Mr Black. You, as an Auror, should be better than that, and it horrifies me that people who pre-judge someone are Aurors."_

 _Sirius flinched._

" _For example, if I were to judge you simply by looks, I would think you as nothing more than a poser, standing there with your expensive leather coat so finely tailored—so far above what a typical Auror can afford. Your messy hair would tell me you don't give a care about your personal appearance unless it matters, and even then—apparently coming to work in the morning doesn't matter enough. You wear tight trousers to accent your assets to the female persuasion, but I can guarantee the only thing you do is prove that you aren't out there to judge a woman by her brains. Or, perhaps, you are over compensating, and are, in fact, attracted to blokes and are desperately trying to prove otherwise. Let me guess. You have a Muggle motorcycle stashed away somewhere so you can make a lot of noise and tear up the streets, feeling the wind in your hair like a dog hanging their head out of a Muggle automobile window. Do you drink every night after a hard day's work, justifying it as well-earned spoils? Does your conscience start to tingle only long enough that you feel you have to drown it in whisky? It would be a shame if all I did was judge you on first impressions, Mr Black. Wherever would we be if the Department of Mysteries did that?"_

 _Sirius swallowed hard._

 _Thea's face hardened, but then she sighed and relaxed. "But that is neither here nor there, as you have brought our lioness back to us, and that is more than your other pathetic fellows could do. She extended a hand to Sirius. "Might as well get you to Amelia. She'll want to know what happened. From you. Despite whatever actions you may have done in the past, which I imagine are horrible, you did make the right decision today. Perhaps—there is hope for you."_

 _Sirius pulled himself up and balked as his hand met her skin. She eyed him, a flash of gold filling her eyes. "Problems, Mr Black?"_

 _Sirius tried not to look, but he couldn't help it. Finely chiseled scales adorned her skin, so fine they could have been grains of sand. They shimmered like opals. He swallowed audibly, looking back up at her._

 _Thea's eyes bored into him. "I was in Slytherin House too, Mr Black. Shall you judge me without knowing me?"_

 _Sirius tugged on his collar. "No, ma'am."_

 _Sirius followed Thea down the hall towards Amelia's office, and when she dropped him off, he felt a sort of tangible relief upon arriving, as if he'd been a mouse and she the snake—quite literally._

" _What kind of snake is she?" Sirius whispered as Thea left down the hall in a swirl of red and black fabric._

 _Amelia looked up from her desk, eyebrow raising. "She's not a snake, Mr Black. She's a dragon."_

 _Sirius gaped._

* * *

 _Sirius waited in his flat after having "survived" the interrogation by the powerful witch known as Amelia Bones. He'd heard of her, as most Aurors did, but that was only rumour and whispers. Unlike her boss, whose name seemed to slip away like a darting fish, Amelia had a reputation as a rule enforcer who did not tolerate funny business._

 _Rumour had it even old Mad-Eye respected Madam Bones—and after that grilling interrogation (which never once even went above a soft voice, making it all the more terrifying) he was willing to swear off stupidity for good. Sirius needed to talk to Prongs. He wanted to know if he'd done it on his own or if Lily had somehow convinced him to take out Hermione Sesheta—no, Snape—because of some stupid teenage grudge over Sni—Severus Snape._

 _While his job was not as in danger thanks to him being the one who brought Madam Snape back to the DoM, there were questions that were going to have to be answered, lest good old Prongs wake up with a lioness standing on his junk AND his bladder at the same time._

 _He'd spent the last four hours having a face to muzzle with Hermione Snape through a new and apparently uncursed identification collar that had a sort of—what did Amelia call it?_

 _Telepamagitransmiography? Hell… it was complicated._

 _Anyway, he spend the evening talking to a lioness. Hermione—fuck._

 _There was so much he didn't know. Hadn't wanted to know—and now he did know. There was no going back from it. He couldn't deny his past was a clusterfuck, and his attitude had been more so, but—he'd witnessed his best mate strip a innocent witch down to starkers all for a Mark that hadn't been there._

 _And Sirius knew exactly where that rumour had come from: Lily._

 _Lily had hated Hermione Sesheta since the day she arrived at Hogwarts. All because Hermione had forgiven "Sev" all his faults and made the wretch of a person hater into a decent man. It didn't help that Severus had Sirius' own ire for befriending his kid-brother and actually getting along with him. That was Sirius' problem with him—even after the other issues of House-hate._

 _Hate he really had because of his parents rather than—_

 _Fuck, he was messed up._

 _Sirius pinched his nose and took a drink—stared at the whisky in his glass and then frowned. He threw it into the fireplace, watching it go up in flames._

 _No more. He wasn't going to use alcohol to make him avoid facing himself and his own past anymore. He was going to have to find his kid brother and confess he was being a totally bastard to him for—_

 _Doing exactly what he had to in order to survive in a house with two highly pureblood parents._

 _Regulus was the brave one._

 _Regulus put on a brave face and did everything he was supposed to do to keep the peace._

 _Not him. No. Sirius had run away. He had literally run away, leaving his kid brother alone to pick up the pieces of his older brother's rebellious—everythings._

 _Sirius frowned. He was, after everything, ashamed. He'd let his stupid pride over being something other than Slytherin and his hatred for his parents taint his relationship with his brother and everyone he knew. He'd cursed his brother for being a hypocrite—while he was ultimately more so._

 _Stupid._

 _Stupid._

 _Stupid._

 _Sirius should have known better. Moony had tried to tell them after the entire almost-murdered-your-schoolmate-with-a-werewolf incident that if anyone had deserved to be punished it had been him, Wormtail, and Prongs. Sirius most of all, thanks to his brilliant idea to teach Sni—Severus to keep his great beak of a nose out of their bloody business._

 _But what_ _ **was**_ _their business anyway? Tormenting Slytherins?_

 _No, it was time to have a sit down with Prongs._

 _What kind of life did he want to bring his son into? How do you teach your son about the love they had for him if the world he saw around them was most definitely_ _ **not**_ _created out of love. The idea that mini-Prongs would become just like them—hell._

 _He wondered what Harry would be like when he grew up? Maybe he should worry more about if he'd reach his first birthday—October was coming soon, and the weather was shifting into cold. You Know Who was gaining more and more support. People were disappearing—and the Aurors—_

 _People like him and Prongs were not helping by paranoidly accusing everyone. Wormtail seemed perfectly happy accusing whoever for whatever he could make up, and until this point, Sirius had laughed and not bothered to correct him. Remus, on the other hand, had started to drift away from their blame parties—drinking on Fridays at the Leaky and pointing out supposed Death Eaters. Some of them they had even followed, looking for reasons to arrest them._

 _There was a knock at his flat door, and he grunted, knowing Remus would take that as a "come in." The ex-werewolf slipped in quietly—almost as if he still had his more preternatural abilities._

" _How'd it go?" Remus asked, sitting on the opposite-facing couch._

 _Sirius stared into the fire where his shot glass was still melting. "It was a learning experience." He paused long and hard. "She's DoM."_

" _What?" Remus gasped. "I mean, I knew she was special, but—"_

" _Oh—more than special Moony. She can wrangle a bunch of Unspeakable's children, teach a class, and then do a covert op before dinner. The things I saw, Moony. I'm pathetic. We've been at her like she's some sort of demon incarnate, but she's more like an avenging angel—and we've done nothing but get on her bad side since day one."_

 _Remus gave him a look._

" _Except you, Moony—you've been nothing but her advocate since day one."_

 _Remus sighed. "The goddess told you she was her lioness. Why is it that you had such a hard time believing that?"_

" _Because I don't believe in gods!" Sirius blurted._

 _Remus jerked his head back. "How? Isn't that something with comes with being a pureblood? How could you not after all you've seen? All you've—"_

" _I spent my childhood doing the kind of tricks the gods do to people, Remus. I couldn't believe it wasn't just some mad trick. Some slight of hand I didn't know of. That I wanted for myself."_

 _Sirius clenched his fist. "Don't you think I wanted to be able to cure your lycanthropy? Don't you think our becoming Animagi to keep you company wasn't all for you?"_

 _Remus let out a breath. "Pads, I have no doubt that in the beginning that is exactly what it was, but even you have to admit that it changed. It became just one more tool to torment Severus. Slytherin—and especially Hermione Sesheta."_

 _Sirius closed his eyes. "You're right, of course." He slumped, his gaze going to the half-full glass of firewhisky. He reached for it, hand trembling—and then he stopped. "Fuck me, this is_ _ **hard**_ _, Moony."_

" _It's always been hard, Pads," Remus said._

 _Sirius swallowed hard, his hand trembling. "You've known, haven't you?"_

 _Remus sighed. "Known what, Pads?"_

" _That she was more than just—"_

 _Remus shook his head. "Mate, she gave me back my life. My human life. How can I not have known she was so much more than just some random Slytherin witch who happened to show up at exactly the right time?"_

 _Sirius frowned, struggling. "We didn't exactly make it easy for you, did we, Moony?"_

 _Remus averted his gaze. "No," he replied quietly, "you were all sodding wankers about it."_

 _Sirius flushed red, anger rising, and then he suddenly seemed to realise just how stupid it was for him to get mad at Remus for his own behaviour. "I'm just a right mess of things, aren't I?"_

" _There's still some hope for you," Remus said, not unkindly._

* * *

 _Internal Memo_

 _To: Aurors, all_

 _From: Moody, Alastor_

 _I don't know which of you idiots decided it was a-okay to bring in ANYONE and rip off their sodding clothes looking for a Dark Mark, but this shite ends right now!_

 _I have spent days trying to smooth things over with people far above my pay scale to keep us all from being fired, and I want the heads of the parties responsible on a platter on my desk as of yesterday!_

 _I know you all think ol' Madeye is madder than a box of frogs, but I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday, people, and there is a big gaping hole in the logs around the time a very obvious incident went down. Someone has been covering up their trail, but when I find them, I guarantee it will not go well for them or the ones who are thinking they can't snitch on their buddies. We are the LAW enforcers around here! We are not free to judge someone and then do what we please. If someone throws a Dark magic at you, then you are perfectly sanctioned to retaliate, but assaulting someone here within the Auror's office is not okay. What assault, you ask? This eye of mine isn't for show, people. I could see something happened in that holding cell, but what it can't tell me is who or why, and there is not one report for the time in question._

 _I want this mystery solved. If it doesn't march into my office with a bow tied around it, I will start bringing each and every one of you into my office for a sit down._

 _You won't like it._

* * *

 _ **Bulletin Board Posting (in Aurors-Only lounge)**_

 _Auror Potter has resigned his position to better take care of his family during this difficult time of war. He requests that he not be contacted to better ensure the safety of his wife and child._

* * *

 _The time after Sirius' epiphany and reconciliation with Hermione Snape was a jumbled mess. He and Remus had become better friends, and by better he treated Remus with more appreciation for the ex-werewolf's level head. The irony that the one who used to lose control the most had the most level head was not lost on him at all._

 _Remus began to visit more often, and James began to visit less. Both men didn't seem to understand what was going on in James' head, but both speculated that his obsession with his "family's" safety was more about worrying about what Alastor Moody would do to him if he got his claws into him._

 _Sirius had already been cleared, and that had been a tricky sort of dance. He was sworn to secrecy under Oath to protect Hermione's position as well as herself, and the only one he could talk about it with was Remus, who had already known. When Sirius couldn't spit out the answers to Moody's questions, he'd almost flown off the handle—at least until Sirius fell to the floor, convulsing as his Oath tried to kill him._

 _Unspeakable Thea had arrived shortly after, decked in her full uniform of her station and intimidating enough to make Alastor Moody take pause, rushing to Sirius' side to ease his pain as she cursed at Moody for not recognising the mark of Oath to the DoM that clearly stamped to the back of his ear. It was something an experienced Auror like Moody should have known to check, and she was getting tired of Aurors not noticing safeguards the DoM put on the agents so such things wouldn't happen._

 _She'd hissed at Alastor (literally) for about ten minutes before she remembered she was wearing her full Unspeakables headdress—something that purposely transformed her speech into disturbing hissing whispers. Then she pulled off her head covering so she could properly yell at him, and her anger had her hissing words anyway thanks to her more draconic alterego._

 _Had Sirius not been on the floor writhing in pain, he would have enjoyed the show._

 _Moody looked gobsmacked and then inexplicably smitten._

 _They had gone out for coffee afterwards, so apparently whatever passed between then was settled. Sirius had been "excused." He hadn't been complaining._

 _Moody was scary enough._

 _Thea—well she was a dragon. You just don't argue with that—not without serious protection and a distance of maybe a few hundred kilometers between her and your face._

 _Maybe a few extra hundred…_

 _Sirius shook his head as he watched Remus mixing drinks. They'd, well he'd, recently discovered the wonders of tasty beverages that did not involve alcohol. The first few weeks had been rough—the not drinking—but he was starting to feel more human and less like a drunk._

 _Prongs had decided to go "on the run" with Lily and baby Harry, the official reason being danger to his family from the Dark Lord, but something felt off about it. He would still floo in and raid Sirius' old stash of alcohol from time to time—looking more and more like a disheveled street urchin than a wizard. He'd seen real stags that looked more human than Prongs._

 _Remus had let it slip the real reason he had "refused" to be Harry's godfather during one of their bonding sessions. Lily had whispered to Prongs in earshot (which wasn't hard since Remus still had vestiges of acute hearing) that she didn't think Remus was going to be financially able to support Harry if something were to happen to them. Prongs had argued otherwise, but the damage had already been done. Remus had declined._

 _Sirius, on the other hand, had accepted as a knee-jerk reaction. Of course he'd take care of mini-Prongs. Yet now, he wondered if that was going to be sooner rather than later._

 _Prongs had been spending way too much time with Wormtail since leaving school, and they'd even made the rat the secret keeper of their new place. Prongs had drunkenly blurted that he could trust Wormtail to be on his side which had caused an even greater rift between Sirius, Remus, and James._

 _So, Sirius and Remus became comrades in bachelor life, and Sirius stopped bringing home random witches for cheap, meaningless sex. They, like the booze, had become a crutch he no longer wanted. Even though they both worried for James' and Lily's son's future, Prongs wasn't speaking of where they had moved to. That secret belonged only to Wormtail, and Peter wasn't visiting— having more important things to do than wallow with his former best mates._

 _Sirius and Remus had decided to have a sit in and watch Muggle television and drink non-alcoholic cocktails and share a pizza from D'Agostino's. It was a family-owned business that all the locals knew, but if you didn't know it was easy to miss simply because of the crowd hiding the place. Still, the food smelled utterly divine, and for an ex-lupine and Animagus-dog— well, they were working on adding some much-needed kilos to their emaciated, war-ravaged bodies._

 _Even so, the pair had decided that maybe they should team up and get a nice place in the country away from the hustle and bustle of London proper, but they didn't want to be targets either. They were far more invisible in Muggle London than in the country or in magical-friendly areas. For now, they would remain surrounded in people— protected by the Muggles that were under the threat of a wizard they didn't even know existed._

" _Pass the mini-waffles, would you, Pads?" Remus asked._

" _You're addicted, Moony."_

" _They are tiny bundles of joyous rapture on my tongue."_

 _Sirius sighed. "You're still a wolf, I don't care_ _ **what**_ _you say."_

" _I imagine myself as a giant black bird with a blue head and attitude."_

 _Sirius blinked. "What?"_

" _You know, the cassowary. They like fruit. I like fruit. They like mushrooms, I like mushrooms."_

" _Moony, you just like food."_

" _Well, yes."_

" _And chocolate."_

" _The cacao pod is a fruit."_

 _Sirius rolled his eyes. "You should have been a sodding Ravenclaw."_

 _Remus ffffted. "Whatever, Pads."_

 _The flames in the floo rose up, turning green, and James half-fell, half-stumbled out of it, looking as though he hadn't slept in weeks._

" _Fuck, Prongs, you look like Moony the morning after the full moon!"_

 _James gave him a weary smile. "It's worth it, Pads. I'm fixing everything."_

 _Remus and Sirius exchanged worried glances._

" _What do you mean, 'fixing everything'?"_

 _James waved him off as he poured himself a drink from Sirius' private stash of Muggle alcoholic beverages. He took a huge swig and then set the glass down. "We won't have to worry about Snivellus' little slag anymore. I've taken care of it."_

 _James stared down the empty shot glass, poured another, and then slammed it down. "Or rather,_ _ **it**_ _will, anyway."_

 _Sirius stood up violently, tipping his chair over in the process. "What do you_ _ **mean**_ _you took care of her?"_

" _Gods, calm down, Pads," James said rather lazily. He wiped his brow and pulled out a gemstone from his coat pocket. "Remember that time we fed the gargoyle Snivellus' transfigured gem project?"_

 _Sirius and Remus exchanged worried glances._

 _James smiled, squeezing the gem in his hand. "She's not going to be a problem for us anymore. I had Wormtail sneak another gem into Hogwarts and feed it to the gargoyle. Now, all it needs is a little blood and it all goes away."_

" _Blood magic? Are you nuts?!" Sirius yelped. "You'd risk yourself and your wife and your child by doing BLOOD MAGIC?!" The wizard's hair stood up on end like the hackles on a— dog. "Do you hear yourself? Did you not listen to my stories of what that evil shite did to my family? My mother's father worked blood magic on his wife while she was but in the womb, and you can see what insanity that brought upon her! You've heard her for yourself! Is there some sort of screw loose in your head that makes you think that Lily and Harry won't be affected by this? You know damned well that magic like that ALWAYS exacts a heavy price, what the hell makes you think that you'll be an exception, huh? Don't even try to kid yourself into believing that your intentions somehow make you above it all because blood magic doesn't CARE about your reasons or justifications, you bleeding idiot!"_

" _You don't understand, Pads! She's ruined everything! I can't even make love to my WIFE without her coming between us! This is FOR my family. This is for my SON. He will never have to grow up and have some inhuman beast hanging over his head!"_

 _Lupin's head jerked up, and his face twisted into a scowl of dismay and anger. "What did you say?"_

 _James blinked at that. "Oh come on, Moony, you know I don't—"_

" _No, please," Remus said, his lips pursing into a tight line. "Tell me what you truly believe. Tell me you don't share the same opinion that Lily did about having a poor, impoverished man-beast as a godfather for your son."_

 _James looked conflicted. "Moony—"_

 _Remus' eyes were on James, their surface flickered with the hint of what had once been the wolf. The rise of his magic caused his hair to stand on end, and for a moment, James looked as though he had managed to bring the werewolf back out._

 _Foom!_

 _In Remus' stead, there was a large, flightless, black bird with a bright blue head and black and red waddles and a crownlike casque on his head. The bird made a loud booming noise that seemed to reach far back to the time when dinosaurs walked the Earth. He launched himself at James, using his beak as his weapon of choice— his huge foot claws only slightly more concerning by their immense size._

 _James, so shocked by Remus' transformation into something so completely alien and unexpected, could barely stagger back. The gem in his hand dropped to the ground, rolling to a stop in the middle of the floor rug, as James shifted into his stag-form, trying to keep the irate land-bird from gutting him with beak and talons._

" _Stop it!" Sirius bellowed. "Talk about this like civilised men!"_

 _Neither of the"men" seemed to be listening, as a buildup of unsaid everythings was boiling out into an act of physical violence— something Remus had never been able to permit himself when he was a werewolf, lest something draw attention to his status as a dangerous lycanthrope._

 _Prongs tried to impale Moony with his antlers, and Moony kicked upward. Prongs pulled back, but the giant claw scraped the tip of the stag's nose. Blood flowed everywhere— tiny droplets spraying outward in a disorderly crimson cloud._

" _ **NO!"**_ _Sirius screamed, whipping out his wand and trying in vain to cast a spell—_

 _But it was too late._

 _Blood fell upon the forgotten gemstone lying innocently on the carpet._

 _A sizzling heatwave of blood red magic blew outwards as the gem itself atomised, and all three men (one cassowary, one stag, and a human wizard) were thrown in different directions. Their bodies slammed hard against the walls, knocking off the portraits and cracking the plaster. They slid down, wind knocked clean out of them as the magic tore through them all._

 _They screamed in agony, clutching their heads as the spell James had woven did whatever it was supposed to do. The magic arced and fizzled as the wizards convulsed on the floor and then went limp._

* * *

Sirius woke in a strangely comfortable armchair in Dumbledore's office. He wiped the drool from his chin and looked around. "Nnnghf?"

"Charming, brother," Regulus said, "I see your post-slumber manners haven't changed since you were three."

"How the _**fuck**_ would you know?" Sirius blurted. "You were two!"

"I was a very talented two-year-old that was juggling bottles with my mind before you could figure out how to open a door."

"Shut up!"

"You first!"

"Why am I even arguing with you?! You're fucking _**DEAD!**_ "

"I would disagree, brother."

Sirius shot straight up in the chair, wild-eyed. "R-r-r… Merlin, _**Regulus?"**_

"Outstanding," Regulus said dryly. "Do you remember your own name as well?"

Sirius stared, dumbfounded.

"You're dead."

"I beg to differ."

"You— but— you're _**dead!**_ "

Sirius jumped as there was a joint, thunderous roar, and he tumbled backwards out of the chair as he practically had to crawl up over the back in order to tip all the way back. He thumped onto the floor on his back, the chair slamming into his groin.

"Ouch, brother," Regulus muttered, doing a slow check of his own privates in sympathy.

The black and white male lions looks very smug as they pinned their lioness and gave her a good grooming from each side. The mahogany lion groomed the silvery lioness, looking just as smug as the others. Meanwhile Severus— who never ceased to looked like Severus regardless of what body he was in— crossed his arms across his chest and leaned into Albus' bookcase, the corner of his muzzle wrinkling upward in a sneer.

Albus was feeding Fawkes a mango, and the bird was helping himself to the bits that had landed in the old wizard's beard.

"Still as daft as ever, Black," Severus rumbled, his voice deeper with a low growl laced into it.

"You shut the fuck up, SNIVEL—"

Sirius stopped as the giant golden lioness, her solar disc shining with golden light, stepped out of the pride. Her size— gods her size— had her almost to Regulus' shoulder, and her amber eyes blazed and met his. Her lips pulled back from her teeth, exposing her canines in what could only be a show of intimidation, and Sirius' words just screeched to a halt, hopped the tracks, and proceeded to flee in the mountains, throwing itself off the first cliff it could find.

Sirius made incoherent babbling noises.

To everyone's surprise, Severus' hand-paw rested on Hermione's head, and she looked up at him with a curious look. He shook his head, gesturing with his chin, as he held out his pawlike hand to her.

Hermione seemed to shrug, standing on her back legs and rising upwards, transforming into her human form, cracking her neck as she stood as a woman rather than a lioness. She rubbed her cheek against his in a show of solidarity, made somewhat eerie by the very lion action in a human body, and Sirius could only gape as Regulus did the same, once to Hermione and then once to Severus. Severus' mouth parted, exposing his teeth; he lifted his head as he scented using the back of his mouth, then gently rubbed each of them back, a thrumming rumble in his throat.

Sirius attempted to pull himself together. "H— Hermione?"

He clutched his head painfully.

"I fear there is nothing we can do to ease the pain of your remembering, Black," Severus said, eyes narrowing. "From what I understand, you were just as affected as the rest of us that had known her back then. You can blame Potter and Wormtail for that rather— _painful_ epiphany."

A spider cooed from Severus' shoulder, bouncing up and down. " _He okay?"_

" _He doesn't look okay."_

" _He looks knackered."_

" _He looked worse than knackered."_

The spiderlings peered at Sirius with curiosity and concern.

"I would not recommend moving too quickly," Dumbledore said, rubbing his head. "If it weren't for Fawkes, I'd still be in the infirmary."

"Nnnnnnggg," Sirius managed.

A chocolate bar was being waved under Sirius' nose. "This may help."

"Remus?"

"Oh, good. You remember my name too."

Sirius made an odd expression. "I need to sit down."

"You _are_ sitting down."

"I need to sit down on something that is an actual chair."

Remus pulled him up and guided his friend over to the chair and plunked him into it, then yanked the toppled chair over to sit on it.

"You know, I've been locking myself away in a cage after drinking a sleeping draught every evening since— thinking I was going to turn?"

"But you're not—"

"Tell me you knew that twenty minutes ago."

Sirius tried and then made a face. "Oh." He rubbed his head. "This hurts like… _FUCK_ ," he groaned, wincing.

* * *

 ** _I'll be there to help you, brother, I promise."_**

" _You'd better be, brother," Regulus said. "There is no one else who can find me if something goes wrong. When I get there, I will send you my location, just like we did as kids. I need you to be there just in case—"_

" _I'll be there."_

" _Promise?" Regulus' voice wavered slightly._

" _I let you down before, brother. I will not do it again while life is still inside of me," Sirius swore fervently._

 _Regulus closed his eyes and nodded. "I'm counting on you, brother."_

" _I'll be there."_

 _Regulus sighed and nodded._

 _Sirius watched his baby brother walk back into the DoM, met at the door by a lioness, who rubbed up against him and allowed him to grasp her tail for comfort, like a child putting their hand in their parent's as they walked to the healer's office._

" _My baby brother in the DoM—the world really is upside down," Sirius said to himself as the door to the DoM closed behind his brother's retreating figure._

* * *

Sirius shook his head, moaning as he clutched his head. "Oh gods— I wasn't there! I wasn't— I never remembered to— I'm the reason you're dead!"

Regulus sighed again. "Brother, I swear that I'm not haunting you, you big buffoon. I'm _alive_. Hermione saved me. Before I went out, she made me wear a portkey. I got out, brother. I found out later why you never showed, but it was too late to do anything about it."

"How— _why_ weren't you—"

"DoM, brother," Regulus explained. "There isn't a single agent that is allowed out in the field without their wards, amulets, and all that other fun protective stuff."

Sirius seemed lost in thought. He looked to his brother, his friend— to the headmaster and then to the disturbing number of giant lions and swallowed hard. "What… happened?"

"Blood magic," Regulus said, sitting down. "Triggered on the night I was almost trapped in a cave.

Sirius frowned, painfully clutching his head as though to rip the memories out of it. Suddenly, his eyes shot open as his head jerked up. Fury rolled off him. "I'm going to MURDER him!" Sirius roared, flinging himself out of the chair and towards the door—

Hermione stood in front of the door, joined by Viktor, Lucius, Minerva, and Kingsley. Their combined bulk blocked the exit.

Sirius turned to bolt towards the floo, but Severus stood there, looking even more intimidating than he had ever been in school.

Remus put his hands on Sirius' shoulders and shook him. "Prongs is dead, mate. He's gone. Voldemort killed him and Lily, remember?"

Sirius' face looked stricken as his memories caught up with him. "I—"

He sank to the floor, practically laying his head on Severus' dragonhide boots.

"I wasn't there—"

"I wasn't there to help my brother because of HIM!" Sirius wailed. "I rotted in Azkaban because of him and Wormtail. They deserve to pay for that! They deserve—"

Severus pulled his boot away from Sirius. "Unfortunately, they already have." His voice was cold, still haunted by the death, not of James, but of his childhood friend.

Sirius' head shot up angrily— anger being something he was all too easily consumed by, and then he paled as he remembered that it hadn't been just his "best mate" that had died on that horrible night so long ago. Severus had lost his childhood friend, leaving them no way to reconcile— no forgiveness, no closure. Part of that had been purposely foiled by none other than Sirius and James, who had made it their life mission to make sure Lily never forgave him.

"Gods.. oh gods.. I'm sorry." Sirius looked up at the lion-man. "I'm sorry. So sorry."

Severus' lip curled, but then Hermione's wedge of a head maneuvered under his pawlike hand and pushed upward. Severus's face slackened, a peaceful look taking the place of his customary sneer.

"You have already apologised, Black, and back then, you meant it too," Snape uncrossed his arms and helped Sirius up off the floor. Though it only lasted for but a moment before it was wiped away by your best mate."

Sirius looked haunted. "He's sacked," he said, sitting down again on the nearby chair. "Who wants a best mate, even in memory, that would use blood magic to wipe out a woman from across Britain?"

Dumbledore steepled his fingers together. "I fear that much of what we are experiencing today has been waiting to happen since almost a decade ago, and time is righting what we could not. Sadly it was not in time to save Harry from being an orphan— or at least he could have had guardians that cared for him so it did not require relying on him being locked with his only remaining blood relative."

Sirius let out his breath slowly. "And Harry has had to live with it."

"You have the opportunity now to give Harry something you could not give him before," Albus said.

Sirius looked up.

"Family and friends without the— unfortunate strife."

Sirius looked to Remus and then Severus. He stared at his brother, swallowing hard. "That would be," he started to say, "quite a pleasant change."

* * *

"You're— a _lion_?" Sirius whispered as he and his little brother walked Hogwarts' grounds.

"I've _always_ been a lion, brother," Regulus chuckled. "My star is the brightest of Leo."

"But you weren't always an actual lion!"

"Had you not been so oblivious to anything but my crimes against Gryffindor, brother, you would have noticed I've been a registered Animagus since my seventh year."

" _What_?"

"Mind you, I was a bright orange Kneazle-looking thing with a squashed face that looked like I took a header into a brick wall. Horrible. I ran around like I had some pretty major allergies. I think I was allergic to myself—but that all changed when Hermione saved my life. I became a part of her Pride, and it gave us both a bit of sanity as the world continued on without us."

"You lost your allergies?"

"I became a lion."

"Oh." Sirius stared down at his feet. "Here I thought me and my best mates had such a thing."

" _He looks better!"_

" _Yup!"_

" _Less like he was trampled by a hippogriff."_

" _Being stepped on hurts."_

" _Indeed."_

Sirius looked up to see two spiderlings on Regulus' shoulder. "Ngh?"

Regulus smiled. "The blue one is Dalziel. The green one is Yaxha. Guys, meet my brother, Sirius."

" _Hallo!"_

" _Namaste!"_

Sirius blinked. "You have spiders?"

"Oh, pretty much all of the Unspeakables and DoM people have spiders now. Joke had another clutch and they were all adopted out within a few weeks. I think Joke was relieved."

" _Mummy is a great mummy, but there were a few hundred of us, and it was getting pretty crowded on her back,_ " Dalziel said.

" _Very crowded,"_ Yaxha agreed. " _But we're all born able to build a web, so we just weave one in front of a light source and food comes to us on its own."_

" _I like crickets,"_ Dalziel said. " _They require a little more proactive hunting."_

Sirius boggled. "I thought— Hermione— guh."

"Really smooth, brother." Regulus snorted.

" _Most of us stick with Mummy, and she stays with Hermione,"_ Yaxha said. " _But Mummy says we can stick with our friends from the Department of Blistered Knees."_

" _Mysteries!"_ Dalziel corrected.

" _Misty knees?"_

" _Mist-er-ees!"_

" _Oh, why didn't you just say so?"_ Yaxha said rather crankily.

Dalziel rubbed the spaces between his eyes with his forelegs. " _We can't take you anywhere."_

" _Go back into his hair? Okay!"_ Yaxha shambled back into Regulus' head of raven-black curls.

Dalziel sighed. " _Sorry, she gets a little hard of hearing when she's tired."_

Sirius sat down as a dog, looking more than a bit gobsmacked. He tucked his tail between his legs and sighed.

"It's not your fault, brother," Regulus said, giving Sirius a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I forgave you once I realised what had happened. Hermione— she was despondent for weeks. She wanted to go home to Severus— but he had forgotten she had ever existed. Forgotten everything that had made him—"

"Human," Sirius said, turning back to his human form. "Worthy of love. All he had was his hate for us, the pain of Lily's unforgiveness, and seven years of scorn."

Regulus shook his head. "You made up, brother. We made up. We were all working on being— better with each other. The person who did all those things wasn't the person you were trying to be. The person you became, brother."

Sirius looked haunted. "I guess I've spent so long in Azkaban that finding the good in things always seemed hopeless."

Regulus scowled. "If anyone deserves to be suffering, Sirius, it's Potter. He's the one who sacrificed blood magic to wipe the memory of a witch and all connected to her to save his own miserable hide."

"Who else have you helped with their memories?" Sirius asked.

"Moody was first. He started to remember Thea— his beau from the DoM. They were like two peas in a pod once— and then he forgot. I think they are off in a mountain range somewhere getting to know each other again." Regulus coughed. "Ahem. Yeah that works."

Sirius gaped. "Moody? Moody is shagging a bird?"

Regulus huffed. "She's a dragon, and yes they are quite suited for each other."

"A— wait I remember now. I rem— Oh my— _**MERLIN! HER?!**_ "

Regulus shook his head. "Dragons need love too, idiot."

Sirius paled. "But she's a— dragon!"

"Yeah, and she's been waiting for the right bloke for upwards of three hundred years, so she's quite happy to find someone to bicker with on her own terms." Regulus shook her head. "She mothered a lot of the foundlings at the DoM with Hermione, but she was like Hermione's mum. She was always making sure no one did any funny business around her furry daughter."

"A dragon adopted a lioness?"

"If it works, don't fix it," Regulus reasoned. "I think Amelia was relieved. Thea stopped focusing all her motherly instincts on her."

Sirius snorted.

"Lions are pride-focused. They love physical contact with each other, and they don't like not knowing where their members are. A motherly dragon was just— comforting. Especially since she only had me to keep her pride-sense in check. I think she spent a few months sulking in Thea's draconic care after the 'incident'. Hell, I did too. As much as I wanted to be out of the thumbs of our parents, I hadn't expected it to go like that. It took about year before we had truly felt at home in the bowels of the DoM. The foundlings brought her out of it the best, I think. She missed her cub and her spiders, but the foundlings were a close substitute. Severus though—"

"You know, as much as she was his anchor, he was hers," Sirius said. "I think— Prongs really envied that. Lily, I know, envied that intensely. That faith. That—love. They didn't even have to be together to feel that."

Sirius clenched his fist. " _I_ envied it."

"Brother, I think we _all_ feel a little jealousy for what they had. Have." Regulus sighed. "I was hunting for it back when I was far too oblivious to realised Severus had already won her over."

"Wait, _**you**_ courted her?"

"For a couple of months, but I could never take her home. Meet the family. Then, I think we realised we were already family, just not in the way I'd expected. Brother. Remember that old incantation father taught us to swear upon the honour of our family? I—"

"Regulus?"

Regulus swallowed hard. "I may have accidentally mispronounced it when she saved me and our blood mingled and uh— well—"

"Regulus?!"

"She's our sister."

" _ **WHHAAAT?!"**_

"Elder sister of the House of Black. In blood."

Sirius stared.

And stared.

And stared some more.

Then he tilted back his head and laughed like a hyena. "You bound a witch to our family using blood magic by _**ACCIDENT?!"**_

"I can't be sure, but the truth of that may have given our father a coronary."

"That could explain their rather sudden demise—" Sirius said, grinning from ear-to-ear. "When did she save you?"

"When didn't she save me is more like," Regulus said. "I think it was the fourth or fifteeth time she saved me from Death Eaters even after I was made one by our lovely parents to make up for 'our first-born's miserable failure' yadda yadda. They thought it was their doing, anyway, but we had this idea to do it together to be able to save people by working from within. I trained with Hermione at the DoM and Lucius was to do his thing with his connections at the Ministry. Then— everything went straight to Hades."

"When everyone else forgot everything."

"Yeah," Regulus said. "Lucius became the pureblood supremacist bastard that his father always wanted him to be— and Severus forgot what it was to have true happiness in his life. A walking storm cloud of darkness, doom, and gloom, he was. Every single day. Then I had to go into hiding on the night Hermione saved me. You got arrested for going mad on some innocent Muggles—"

" _ **I didn't!**_ "

"I know."

"Oh."

Sirius was quiet for a long moment. "Do you think they knew? That it was their own fault that no one could remember to save them?"

"You mean Potter and Evans— er, the Potters?"

Sirius nodded.

"I think they knew, in the end, that their lives had been focused on the wrong things, but— I also think that they realised what was really important too late: their son."

"Prongs deserved punishment, but— is it bad that I wish I could shake him myself?"

"No, I'd say you'd be in a _very_ long line, brother," Regulus replied rather grimly.

Sirius nudged his brother with his elbow. "So we agree for once?"

Regulus snorted. "Don't make it sound like such a bloody miracle."

Sirius shared a smile with his brother as the world seemed to become just a little bit brighter.

* * *

Severus curled his arm around Hermione, pulling her close to press her close to him as his face buried into her almost gender-reversed lion's mane of wild, curly hair. Hermione let out a soft whuff of pure contentment. Over the course of the last few hours, he had explored every inch of his wife's scent and body, reacquainting himself with the very tangibility of her existence and reaffirming the seemingly surreal reality that they had been deprived of over a decade together due to an impulsive, selfish act of blood magic.

Severus, feeling guilty that he had lived through all that time not even realising she was alive and suffering, found a sense of awe and wonder in how sympathetic his newly-refound wife was to his plight.

"It wasn't your fault, Severus," she said, snuggling into his chest. "But can you forgive me for not doing more?"

Severus pulled her to him, holding her tight. "You did everything you could. You even risked being seen by me, knowing I would have done my best to harm you had I known you were in my wards."

"I _missed_ you," she whispered into the warmth of his skin.

Severus' face twisted in pain. "I missed you without ever knowing that it was you I missed." He kissed her tenderly, his mouth lingering over hers. "I feel like I _should_ have remembered. Like what we had so strong enough that it should have—"

"Severus, this was no ordinary magic that stole us from each other," Hermione said, her expression sad. "It was blood magic."

"I want to dig up Potter's corpse, resurrect him, and kill him _again_ ," Severus said bitterly.

"There's a line, my love, but do not let him steal any more of us than he already has." Hermione pressed her forehead to his. "We deserve so much more than being forever haunted by the ghost of a foolish, selfish man." She licked the end of his nose with a smile. "I'm so glad that Harry is a Moody now. He will need his adopted father's strength to cope with the many sins of his birth father."

Severus growled softly, taking the nape of her neck with his teeth. "I would prefer if Mr Potter would stay out of our marital bed, my wife."

Hermione rumbled, relaxing into the feel of his teeth on her neck, her inner lioness radiating contentment from her mate's attention. "Mrrrrrrrr," she mumbled.

Severus snuggled into her. "You seem like…" his voice trailed off as he pressed his face into her mane of curls.

"I am glad we can truly be together, Severus," Hermione said quietly. "A witch with her wizard. A lioness to her lion. You can share my entire world rather than just accept that I'm different."

"Well, to be fair, you are different."

Hermione gnawed on his arm, causing Severus to chuckle— a strangely alien yet beautiful sound from the adult Severus.

"It's good to hear you laugh," Hermione said wistfully. "I have missed it. For a while, all I could remember was your scowl and your pain."

Severus huffed into her ear. "We had many happier memories before."

"None of you as I remembered you from my first impression of you," Hermione said. "Do you know why it was so easy to fall in love with you?"

"My charming disdain for all things living?"

Hermione snorted. "When you laughed that first time— I realised things could change. All the memories I had of you, none of them included happiness. None of them included me."

"Because the memories had been erased."

"I didn't know that—" Hermione replied. "But it still happened, Severus. We still met, fell in love, married. It still happened, even when I didn't know the outcome. We still ended up together. Somehow, we've always ended up— together."

"I find some irony that when you gave me tips on Potions, you were remembering what I had taught you— so I was, in a strange way, teaching myself."

Hermione grinned up at him. "You see why I didn't want to apprentice with you?"

"Sly lioness-minx is what you are," Severus said. "A she-demon and a goddess— the other half of myself." He frowned. "An Unspeakable. While I was beating sense into children and trying not to let them blow themselves up, you were out there trying to beat sense into older adult children and trying not to let them blow themselves up."

Hermione grinned. "Runs in the family."

"Hermione Snape."

"Mmhmm."

Severus touched her cheek. "Do you still—" His face twisted in agony.

"Levitate in my sleep? Unfortunately," Hermione answered, deadpan.

Severus sputtered, frowning.

"Yes, I still want children with you, you insufferably insecure man," Hermione said, placing a kiss on the end of his nose.

"We never had the safety to love each other the way I wished to—"

"We have our entire lives ahead of us, Severus," Hermione said. "Here and now. Now and the future."

Severus sighed and nodded. "We still have to go and appear before the Wizengamot."

Hermione smiled and mrrred. "No worries. After the Wizengamot, we can come home to work on ravaging each other to make up for the last ten-plus years and produce a healthy litter of cubs so Minerva, Thea, and Amelia can be proper aunts."

Severus' jaw dropped to the floor.

Hermione was suddenly a lioness, and she gave Severus a giant slurp across the face and bounded out of the private bedroom and into the greater "savannah" in their shared living quarters.

Severus continued to stare blankly into the space where Hermione had been, stunned speechless.

* * *

"They're just _**CHILDREN!**_ They don't _**deserve**_ to go to Azkaban!"

"Order! Order!"

"Madam Weasley!" Augusta Longbottom snapped from the main podium. "If you cannot be silent, you _**will**_ be removed from these proceedings!"

Molly Weasley wrung her hands, clearly in intense distress, and it wasn't helping that her baby girl was screeching for her mum, crying and begging for her mummy to save her.

The doors to the chambers opened, and Amelia Bones walked in draped in her formal Wizengamot robes. Behind her a figure dressed in deep crimson and black with their formal headdress followed, and behind that figure walked an Unspeakable clad in the fine robes of their office— the normal white trimmed in fluctuating patterns that seemed to writhe and churn on the surface of the fabric. Their headdresses tinkled as they walked, small crystals clinking together with a soft chime.

Most of the Wizengamot held their breath— the appearance of one Unspeakable, let alone two, was enough to unsteady even the most stalwart witch or wizard. Add Amelia into the mix, and more than one attendee tugged uncomfortably at their collars. Aurors were agents of law enforcement, but the Unspeakables were the boogeymen of the Wizarding world. The ghostly uniforms were the stuff witches warned their children about.

"Madam Bones, I believe you have memories to submit to our proceedings," a wizened face stated from the gathered.

Amelia nodded to the Unspeakables beside her, and Thea took out her wand and tapped it to the other's head. A stream of silvery memories swirled around them and then into the mirror-like surface of the giant Pensieve, and the face of a young Hermione Granger stared up at her sombre-looking Potions teacher as she reached into her book bag and pulled out her Potions book…

* * *

" _ **It's a LIE!"**_ Ronald Weasley bellowed, leaping out of his chair, and a group of Aurors immediately pointed their wands at him. "That person is a bloody _**liar!**_ Hiding under that ruddy headdress and making up stupid stories!

The Unspeakables, much like their name, remained utterly silent. The slight rustle of dry bone was the only sound as their intimidating gauntlet extended each digit in succession as their fists opened and closed.

"Silence, Mr Weasley," Griselda Marchbanks growled at the red-faced young wizard. "Next witness will please enter for memory sharing."

A darkly clad wizard walked into the proceedings, pausing to only nod respectfully before continuing to the center of the room. Thea had remained to do the extraction, waiting for his nod and tilt of his head. She extracted a stream of memories and guided it to the pool—

" _ **THIS IS SUCH A FARCE!"**_ Molly Weasley cried. You're accepting the memories of a Death Eater over my sweet children?!"

"Madam Weasley!"

" _ **NO!**_ Arthur! Don't let them do this! You promised when we got rid of that little Slytherin harlot that all of our problems would go away! Well, this isn't going away! _**DO**_ something, Arthur!"

Arthur Weasley, known Muggle sympathiser, gave Molly a strange look. "Molly—"

"You _**PROMISED**_ , Arthur!"

"Molly—"

"You swore that James Potter would take care of it!" Molly wailed.

The Wizengamot suddenly became deathly quiet. All eyes stared holes through Molly and Arthur Weasley, none more powerful than the eyes of one young, messy-haired young wizard sitting frozen beside Alastor Moody in the witness area.

Molly looked all around her, panic writ large across every line of her face.

Alastor began to stand, his hand reaching for his wand—

Arthur's wand was in his hand as he aimed it at Severus' heart. "You were so much more amusing as a tortured pariah. _Avada K_ —"

 _ **ROAR!**_

A blur of tawny gold shot through the air and landed on Arthur's chest as the beam of his spell went zinging off toward the ceiling and caused a chandelier to come crashing down in a cacophony of shattered glass and crystal.

A blood-curdling scream filled the room as the lioness' fangs clamped down hard on Arthur's wand hand and took it clean off with a wet, crunching _snap_.

" _ **STUPEFY!"**_

Eight stunners slammed into Arthur Weasley as a gauntlet of Aurors surrounded Molly Weasley and had her restrained in the same breath.

They gave the wrathful lioness a large ring of wary respect even as Thea and Amelia rushed up. Thea placed a hand on the lioness' shoulder, and Hermione's snarl loosened and softened. She rumbled and rubbed against her warm touch even as she spat out the severed hand (and wand) of Arthur Weasley into Amelia's open evidence bag.

Molly— her eyes transfixed upon the sight of the disembodied hand of her husband— sank limp to the floor as a dead weight.

As Aurors and officials swarmed over the Weasleys— Severus Snape stood where he was, his fingers gently touching the velvety fur of the no-longer-quite-so-wrathful lioness.

"Thank you," he whispered.

* * *

 _ **Dark Lord Exposed**_

 _ **Wizengamot Stunned During Surreal Session**_

 _Already knew about the Dark Lord?_

 _Think again!_

 _After an assault on a witness who was about to testify in a Wizengamot session, Arthur Weasley, husband of Molly Weasley and father of seven, was arrested by Ministry Aurors and questioned extensively under both Veritaserum and Legilimency to expose a dastardly hidden truth: seemingly mild-mannered Ministry worker Arthur Weasley was the_ _ **true**_ _Dark Lord._

 _Using his well-known reputation as a 'Muggle-loving blood-traitor', Arthur Weasley has admitted, under Veritaserum, that Voldemort's acts of brutality paled in comparison the deeds he had committed "to protect his family from Mudbloods."_

 _Madam Molly Weasley, wife of Arthur Weasley, was subsequently admitted into the Janus Thickey Ward in St Mungo's after having a nervous breakdown in front of the Wizengamot after the ugly altercation that had witches and wizards hitting the floor as Aurors swarmed like a cloud of angry hornets._

 _After a chain of events that remains sealed in secrecy pending the trial of Arthur Weasley, all that was revealed to our reporters was that Mr Weasley was subdued before a killing curse could be completed._

 _Charges on the docket for the weekend session are as follows:_

 _Attempted murder of Master Severus T. Snape_

 _Tampering With temporal magic by proxy_

 _Conspiracy to tamper with temporal magic_

 _Tampering with temporal magic resulting in the deaths of countless magical citizens_

 _Magical manipulation leading to irreversible mental breakdown_

 _Conspiracy to Murder Hermione Granger-Sesheta-Snape_

 _Corruption of a minor via the use of Dark magic_

 _Corruption of a minor via the use of temporal magic_

 _Corruption of a minor via the use of blood magic_

 _Teaching forbidden magic to a minor_

 _Unauthorised use of Ministry-owned equipment and connections_

 _Dark geas on multiple targets_

 _Dark spells on multiple magical objects_

 _Corruption of ancient protective magic_

 _Tampering with protective wards at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

 _The proceedings will be closed to the public due to a number of time-related concerns._

* * *

Harry leaned back against Hermione's tawny side. "I used to have dreams about what my parents were like. How they sacrificed themselves for me, so they must have been the most selfless people in the world. Kind, generous— all the things the Dursleys weren't."

Hermione's tail flicked against him. "To be fair, Harry, it doesn't take all that much to be better than the Dursleys."

Harry snorted. He fingered the magical collar around the lioness' neck. "This thing is really wicked, Hermione. I like being able to hear you talk to me even when you're a lioness."

Hermione snuffled him with her whiskers.

"I've never been so glad to be a Moody," Harry said. He eyed Hedwig as she perched on his boot. The owl hooted raspily and screech-chirped, rotating her head and flapping her wings. Marcus perched on top of Hedwig's head, bouncing on all eight legs excitedly.

"What are you two getting on about?" Harry asked.

Hedwig hooted.

Marcus stared with his multiple eyes.

"Never can win a staring contest with a spider," Harry pouted.

Hermione gave Harry the eye.

Harry slumped. "You win, you win!" Harry muttered. "Is it true you adopted Fred and George so they wouldn't have to live with their aunt?"

"The entire Weasley family is, unfortunately, under very close scrutiny. Most are being interviewed out of an abundance of caution, and their aunt, Muriel Prewett, though she passed the inquiry, wants nothing to do with—"

"The spawn of Arthur Weasley," Harry said, frowning.

"Blood, unfortunately, is highly suspect in much of the Wizarding world," Hermione said.

"I keep forgetting you're grown and—" Harry smiled. " You sound more like a professor."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'm glad you're still my friend," Harry said.

Hermione thumped him down with one large paw. "That will never change, Harry Potter Moody." She leaned her head into his chest heavily. Harry squirmed and laughed.

Harry grinned as Marcus pounced on his head and dove into his messy black hair.

Harry found himself rubbing Hermione's furry belly. "You really adopted Fred and George?"

"More like we adopted _her_ , Harry," Fred and George said together as they flopped down beside them. "Hey, lion-mum," they said together, each sporting the kind of hair that would make a Black proud and a Snape— a Snape. Their eyes, a shimmering deep grey that bled into a fathomless obsidian black.

" _Wicked_ ," Harry breathed.

"Magical adoptions are about the only form of blood magic that's still perfectly legal," George said.

"Which is ironic, because it's also the way you be reborn into a pureblood family."

Harry boggled.

"Makes the war seem a little more—"

"Pointless."

George shrugged. "I think the problem is, none of the purebloods wanted to admit that was an option— that it was always about magic, not blood. If they did, they'd expose the entire nonsense of pureblood superiority."

"As well you know, Mini-Moody," Fred said, grinning at Harry.

Harry grinned back. "What about your brothers?"

George shook his head. "Well, Ickle Ronnikins and Ginny are enjoying Her Majesty's hospitality in the old gaol, but Bill and Charlie are glad they are in Egypt and Romania, I think. Percy—"

Fred rubbed his nose. "He's disowned us—says no brother of _his_ would ever fraternise with a Snape."

Hermione rumbled, tail twitching.

George shook his head. "He called us a pair of blood traitors for wanting to get away from the drama of our former family name, even after Dad up and admitted that he framed our Aunt to get her murdered so the family could get her cottage in Cornwall."

The lioness' brows furrowed.

Fred nudged George. "We both know that Percy wants the quickest path to influence and power. It's why he took that scribe job at the Ministry kissing Fudge's arse."

"Sad that Fudge's reputation is every bit as bad as he thinks _ours_ is."

Hermione yawned toothily, pouncing the twins and knocking the wind out of them.

"Agh!"

"Lioness abuse!"

"Help, we need an _**adult!**_ "

Harry busted out laughing.

"Sons," a familiar baritone voice said silkily. "Did you forget your detention with Mr Filch for turning his hair pink and Mrs Norris carrot orange?"

Fred and George winced as Hermione's head snapped up, eyes narrowing.

The twins tried in vain to slink off and escape, but Hermione's paw pinned them both down.

"Don't do anything that I'll make Lucius sit on you over," Hermione warned, her golden eyes flashing.

The twins nodded emphatically and scurried off.

"They're doomed," Harry said.

Both Snapes eyed Harry.

"They're never going to get away with anything anymore."

Severus snorted and crossed his arms, his hand-paws drumming a beat against his robes.

Hermione rubbed up against his side and wedged her head under his paw for an ear rub.

Marcus squeaked from Harry's hair, giving Hermione meaningful eyes. Harry quickly snatched the spiderling, making hushing motions. Hermione gave Severus a look, and he rolled his eyes. Harry looked embarrassed, trying to shush the spiderling and keep him from crawling out from between his fingers.

" _Come on!"_ Marcus complained. " _You know you want to!"_

"Shush!" Harry hushed.

" _Just ask! Justaskjustaskjustassmfmfhfff!"_ Harry's hands cupped around the spiderling and he shoved him under his shirt to muffle him. A spider-shaped lump wiggled under the fabric, tickling Harry.

Harry busted out laughing, writhing on the ground. "Okay! Okay! Okay! AHHH!"

Marcus popped out of Harry's collar and looked mighty smug.

Harry looked at Hermione. "Erm…"

Marcus tickled Harry's neck with his legs.

"EheheHEHEHEHEH! Ummm—"

Hermione and Severus arched identical eyebrows.

"Canwegoforarunlikewedidtheotherdayitwasreallycool?" Harry blurted out.

Severus sighed heavily. "You spoil him," he accused the lioness.

Hermione's lips curled back from her teeth in a leonine smile.

Severus shook his head, pulling out his wand and pointed it at Hermione, " _Engorgio."_

The huge lioness became even more gargantuan, and Harry leapt on her back. She tore across the green at full tilt, Harry clinging to her back like a monkey.

The spiderling on Severus' shoulder sighed wistfully. " _Shouldn't we follow?"_

"I will not— frolic— in view of the children of Hogwarts."

" _Awww,"_ the spiderling pouted. " _But you want to."_

"That is hardly the point!"

A large white blur of fur went bounding past him with Draco letting out a whoop of excitement— the rift between father and son apparently having healed in favour of lion frolic.

"Oh, come on, Severus," Kingsley's voice rumbled. "You can't let Lucius have all the fun, hrm?"

"If he wishes to debase himself by running around like a cub with his tail on fire, that is his business," Severus muttered.

"You can't tell me that you don't want to be chasing after your mate and rolling around in the grass with her, Severus," Kingsley said.

"Just because I want to doesn't mean I should!" Severus protested.

"So you DO want to, hrm?"

Severus snorted, crossing his arms tighter across his chest.

Minerva went bounding by, joining in the fray of leonine play with Viktor hot on her heels.

"Don't be such a sourpuss," Kingsley said. "No one is going to fault you for being a lion when you ARE a lion." Kingsley went down on all fours and bounded into the fun as the entire pride (sans one) barrelled towards the water to dump Harry and Draco into the lake.

Severus twitched.

The spiderling sighed heavily.

Severus' eye twitched.

" _Don't make me chew on your neck!"_ the spiderling said.

Severus blinked.

The lion-man and the spiderling had a staring contest.

" _I'll do it!"_ the spiderling threatened.

Severus continued to stare.

" _You'll have neck cramps for a week!"_ The spiderling tapped his legs. " _And you'll be all cranky, and she'll not want to be around you!"_

Severus shoved the spiderling back under his collar with his paw-hand.

" _I'll find a way to get through this fur, and when I do— MMMFFFPH!"_

Severus dropped on all fours, taking on his full lion form and barrelled down to the rest of the pride. They greeted him, rubbing and tumbling with him, sending out a loud series of roars across the grounds and into the neighbouring forest.

Hour later, when Harry and Draco were sprawled together against the backs of the resting pride, everything finally seemed as though it was the way it should have been all along.

Joke crawled out and perched on Hermione's head, enjoying the sun with her many ungrown babies clinging to her back.

" _So, what are you going to name the cubs?"_ she asked, out loud for the first time in— no one could remember when.

Hermione and Minerva froze in place as Kingsley and Severus' heads shot up at attention.

Joke shook her head. " _Spider, not stupid!"_

Lucius and Viktor looked smug together, giving each other a high-paw.

Marcus crawled out from under Harry's hair and pounced his mum, causing Joke to give him the eye— from all eight eyes. The spiderlings giggled together.

Harry poked Draco with a finger. "Oi."

" _ **What**_ , Pot— Harry?"

Harry grinned and pointed at Marcus.

Marcus wore his very best spiderling halo.

Draco looked at the spiderling rather suspiciously.

Marcus pointed one leg down towards Hermione's tawny-furred belly.

Harry placed his ear down on Hermione's stomach, a broad grin on his face.

Draco twitched and then gave in, pressing his blond head to Hermione's belly as well. Then the pair of former enemies grinned at each other. Hermione, on the other paw, laid her head over Minerva's belly, her teeth bared in a leonine smile.

Severus groomed Hermione's ears, and she flopped herself against him, mrrrring in pleasure.

The spiderlings gathered to rub up against their mother, and Joke petted them with her legs, fluffing them up and making them look suitably "presentable" in their adorable sun was setting, casting its golden-red glow over the gathering.

Harry leaned back comfortably on Hermione's side, and Draco did the same. "This is the life, yeah?"

Draco smiled, a serene look on his face. "Yeah."

A deep purple spiderling tapped Draco on the sleeve.

"Hrm?" Draco said.

"Love me?" the spiderling asked.

Draco grinned. "Sure."

The spiderling cheered. "Yay!" The spider paused. "Um… I need a name."

"How about Ian?" Draco suggested. "After the rock group."

"You're into Deep Purple?"

Draco gave Harry the eye. Harry hushed and looked over towards the lake, watching the giant squid playing with some curious ducklings.

"I like it!" the spiderling said.

"But you're a _girl_ -spider," Marcus whispered.

"So?" the spiderling accused.

Marcus rubbed his eyes with his forelegs. "Erm…"

"How about Gillian?" Harry suggested.

"Shortened to Gil?" Draco added with a grin.

"Okay!" the spiderling agreed.

Marcus shrugged and snuggled into Harry's neck.

Harry smiled. "I'm ready to live my life."

"Start with finishing school first," Severus said.

Draco and Harry exchanged glances. "Yes, professor."

* * *

Time passes…

* * *

"You come back here you little—"

Four tawny blurs zoomed out of Hagrid's hut, each carrying a large fish or a huge sausage link clamped in their jaws.

Hagrid burst out from his hut, tripping over the elderly Fang and landing face first into the pumpkin patch. He raised his head, covered completely with pumpkin guts, spitting out seeds.

Fang woofed, sniffing Hagrid slowly and then laying on top of him.

Hagrid let out a wheeze.

Meanwhile, a stream of spiderlings exited Hagrid's window as they carried blueberries wrapped in silken bundles on their back.

Hagrid sighed. "There goes dinner and dessert, I'll have you know. You're going hungry tonight because you don't guard worth a lick."

Fang woofed and drooled on Hagrid.

"You could at least help me keep them away from our food, you dosy dog," Hagrid muttered. "I caught those fish myself!"

Fang licked his muzzle as half of a remaining sausage disappeared.

Hagrid glared. "You were _**bribed!**_ " he accused.

Fang wagged his tail.

* * *

"Taj," Kingsley rumbled, plucking his cub off of a large fish.

The cub squirmed.

"Did you steal this fish from Hagrid?"

The male cub, covered with fur in a rich shade of caramel, squirmed vigorously and complained.

A female cub the colour of cinnamon pounced on the unguarded fish and dragged it off into the shrubbery.

" _ **Tiaret!"**_ Kingsley called out sternly.

Mad rustling followed and then frantic eating noises.

Taj mrowled unhappily, deprived of both his dinner and his dignity.

Minerva busted out of the bushes, carrying Tiaret in her mouth. The cub, still carrying her stolen half-eaten fish, dangling limply in her mum's mouthy embrace.

Kingsley facepalmed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. Minerva curled her tail in a lazy loop over her back, radiating pure smugness. She carried her errant cub away with her to where Hermione was sunbathing by the beach, watching with no little amusement as her cubs played tag with the giant squid. Then, the Snape cubs— one pitch black with tawny "headfur" and one tawny with black headfur— sat down at the water's edge and mrowled a question.

 _ **Flop.**_

 _ **FLOP.**_

Two giant fish landed on the bank, thrown by the ever-so-helpful giant squid. The cubs rubbed up against the squid's tentacles in thanks and proceeded to drag their prizes back to Hermione, using her as their base of operations. They, unlike their unruly pridemates, brought their fish over to share with their mum.

"Why can't _**my**_ cubs charm fresh fish out of the giant squid?"

"As opposed to the rotting fish?" Severus asked as he billowed by, yawning and sitting by his mate with a sniff of amusement. The cubs pounced him immediately, trying to drag him down like prey but ending up flat on their back with Severus' big paws pinning them down. He let them go the moment they went limp, and he allowed them to attempt to wrestle him down again.

Kingsley flopped next to Severus, pinning his cub in his lap. "Taj and Tiaret haven't figured out how to charm the squid. How is it that your younger cubs have?"

Hermione whapped her tail into Kingsley. "Soren and Ife are only a _few_ months younger," she chided. The two cubs perked and tumbled over their mum, playfully wrestling with her ears. She promptly pinned each one, giving them a quick once-over in grooming and then let them go to tumble, tussle, and pounce.

There was a whooshing sound as a racing broom zoomed by, two cubs glued to it like their paws had gone the way of the gecko instead of the lion. Two charcoal grey cubs made a squeaky leonine chirp of excitement.

Severus and Kingsley looked up. The cubs all looked up, curious and jealous.

"No," Severus and Kingsley said together, and the cubs slumped dejectedly in unison.

As Viktor padded up, letting out a large yawn filled with long teeth, Severus and Kingsley shook their heads together. "Really? Cubs on a broom?"

"Vhy not?" Viktor asked rolling over against Hermione's back.

"Shouldn't you be working on your DADA lesson plans?"

Viktor raised a furry brow. "Beautiful day. Vhy stay cooped up indoors?"

"You set your cubs loose on a broom," Kingsley said.

"Dhey likes brooms," Viktor replied.

Hermione was chuckling loudly, sounding all the more unnerving coming from a lioness' mouth. Severus glared at his wife. "You encourage him."

Hermione licked her elongated canine teeth.

"Now she's silent," Severus accused.

Regulus padded up, and the cubs all ran up to tackle him— as best they could with their smaller size. Instead of wrestling them down, they sort of clung to his mane and chewed on his tail or clinged to his paws in an attempt to drag him down. Regulus gave them an exasperated look, shaking from head to toe to dislodge the furry interlopers.

"You know you want some of your own," Severus said sarcastically.

Regulus sighed. "My sister is doing well enough keeping the Black line alive, thank you very much."

"In blood and magic, perhaps, but not in name," Kingsley noted.

"Bah, name too. Do you know of a lioness with a longer name with or without titles?"

Hermione radiated smugness.

Severus gave her a thorough grooming, his own way of being smug about his mate's prowess.

"Besides, brother and I have working on catching up and getting him to a stable place. Between the memory wipe, finding out your best mate tried to— well succeeded— in using blood magic to wipe someone off the face of memory for over a decade, and realising you left your bro to die after promising to be there, well, he's a project."

"Your brother is and has always been a project, Regulus," Severus said rather dryly.

Regulus snorted appreciatively. "There _is_ that."

Hermione placed a paw on Regulus' muzzle, and he mumbled something.

"What's that, Regulus?" Lucius asked.

"I said Imghffffghahh—" Regulus mumbled while turning into the paw instead of away.

"Excuse me?"

All eyes went to Regulus.

Regulus looked uncomfortable, lion ears popped out from his black hair and a tail stuck out from his robes.

The cubs all piled into his lap and stared up at him.

Regulus slumped. "It doesn't matter. She's terrified of lions."

Lucius took Regulus by the scruff and dragged him off towards the lake.

"Wha—!" Regulus squirmed. "What did I— you're not going to— oh my you ARE! LUCIUS!"

Sploosh.

Lucius dumped Regulus into the lake. Regulus came back up spitting out a minnow.

Lucius lay on the end of the pier, using his paw to bop Regulus over the head and push him back down into the water each time he came up.

"Lu—"

"Ci—"

" _ **GAH!"**_

"Ok—"

" _ **OKAY! I'll ask her out!**_ "

Lucius dunked him a few more times for good measure.

An hour later, a dripping Regulus and smug-looking Lucius padded back up to join the pride in sprawling under the shade of a tree. All the cubs rubbed up against Lucius and then pounced on Regulus, covering him completely.

Regulus stared out from between the rear legs of the cub covering his face and sighed. "She's _**never**_ going to want to roll around in the grass with a bunch of lions."

* * *

"How's business going, Fred, George?" Harry asked as he looked around the store.

Half the store was an assortment of fun joke-related and pranking items, but the other half carried a line of more serious fare such as energy bars, invigoration drinks, rescue potions, and regenerative candies for the active witch and wizard on the go.

One section had an assortment of "dinner in a box" and "homemade lunch in a sack" meal replacements "better meals for the busy." Another section had tins of colourful candies and a special area with "Cuppa Candies" to "put a little Snape in your step."

"Caffeinated and decaffeinated?" Harry asked.

"Some people really like the taste but don't want to be awake all night," Fred explained.

"Figgy Pudding—" Harry read. "Christmas Pudding? Sticky Toffee Pudding? This is like a _bakery_!"

George chuckled. "It's food for the field working wizard and witch. Father helped us iron out the supplements and needs from Poppy Pomfrey. Part of all the sales goes to help buy supplies for the renovation of Hogwart's infirmary."

"I hear they just replaced all the beds and expanded the rooms for a little more privacy," Harry said. "Dad told me it looked pretty good."

The twins nodded. "Good to give a little back, eh Harry? I hear you and Draco are coming up with Dark-soaking bandages. Putting that DADA mastery to work, yeah?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah. We were pretty happy when we realised it would allow Dark-cursed injuries to heal without a scar. You still need a regular healing potion and all, but it draws out the Dark magic and lets the wounds heal."

"That's huge, Harry. Potions are everywhere, but if you don't heal, then it's hardly going to help," Fred said.

"Finally getting along with ol' dad?" George ribbed.

Harry smiled. "You know, it was never as bad as that first year or three," he said. "Once I knew who my parents were— what they were really like— let's just say I appreciated being a Moody even more, and my relationship with Professor Snape improved greatly."

Fred smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure people thought we were nuts wanting to be adopted into the Snape family, but they aren't laughing anymore, are they, brother?"

George elbowed his twin and grinned. "Nope."

"Success breeds envy of others," Fred said with a shrug.

George nodded in agreement. "Personally, I think Arthur thought our father was the only one more "poor" than he was. Everyone thought the Weasleys were poorer than dirt having so many kids and all, but we always had food on the table. It does make wonder if we lived without because of an image. Who would have ever suspected we were anything but the kids of a Muggle-loving blood-traitor, at least in the pureblood crowds, yeah? When even we kids believed it."

"Cept Percy—" Fred said. "He's a chip off the ol' Arthur."

George frowned. "Yes."

"How are Bill and Charlie?" Harry asked.

"Tough," Fred replied. "They're just lucky that they live in Romania and Egypt— both having already made their names before the news got out. I can't tell you now _nice_ it is to have black hair now."

George ruffled his brother's hair. "People either think Black or Snape— and either is preferable to Weasley after all that came out." George frowned again. "Sorry, Harry, I know you had your own fair share of that to deal with."

Harry shrugged. "I never knew my parents. What I thought I did, I imagined to give myself the very best parents, ones that would have done anything to save their child. It was easier to be an orphan and make up reasons why they'd leave me with the Dursleys. I mean, I get it that it wasn't like they planned that— but now I can't help but think if they had survived, I'd be loathed even more than I was famous as the Boy-Who-Lived."

George and Fred gave Harry a shoulder bump between them. "We all have gone through some rather horrifying revelations, Harry. But we still have each other, yeah?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. Harry rubbed his arms briskly as if he was cold. "Ever find out what happened to your dad? Well— Arthur?" Harry asked, knowing the twins didn't really associate the man that was the true Arthur Weasley with the man that had been their father. It was just _too_ much. Their father was dead— killed by the wizard known only as Arthur.

The Dark Wizard, Arthur.

Dark Lord.

It was almost too far-fetched to _believe_.

Both Dark Lords had made strikingly similar mistakes. The main one had been underestimating so-called "lower" creatures— whether man or beast.

"Cabbage roll?" Fred asked, putting a rolled-up something in Harry's hand.

"Whaa?"

"Old family recipe. Literally— old family as in _not_ the now-family," George said. "We charm them to hold together and not drip, so you can eat them on the go and not ruin your dress robes."

Harry nibbled somewhat suspiciously on the cabbage roll, his eyebrows raising in surprise when he didn't spontaneously transform into something strange and embarrassing.

The twins crossed their arms and mock-pouted. "Must you _always_ look like you expected it to be poison?"

"Sorry guys," Harry sighed. "But I _did_ share a dorm with Ron."

The twins sighed. "We'll give you that."

"He survived it," Fred said to George.

"So did we," George reminded him sombrely. "But he and our little sister of Damnation are now torturing each other until they are old and grey while having tea with Dementors."

"No rehabilitation?" Harry asked.

"No, not after the first bout of it failed utterly." George looked sombre.

Fred nodded. "Lioness mum gave them both a big chance to buck up and become better people, and they paid her back by sending her back in time to get her out of the way. The irony? They botched the spell too. They meant to send her into space. Into SPACE." Fred gestured upward to the sky.

"They just couldn't be bothered to pronounce things right, even as little kids. Ginny always wanted to flourish everything. Ron just— he botched everything from levitate to trying to turn Scabbers yellow. We tried to teach him the Latin, but he could only remember the English."

"He remembered the menus for all the meals," Harry said.

"That's Ron to a T," Fred said with a snort.

"We've taken to sending him letters of concern to our ex-baby brother with pictures of lion mum and dad cuddling together with the rest of the pride. Extra focus on Viktor's pin-up body," George said.

Harry's eyes bugged out.

The twins grinned. "Viktor even signed the picture with a pawprint to decorate his cell."

Harry sputtered.

Fred and George grinned evilly.

"They said they had to move him to a soundproof cell and padded cell after he tried to slam himself into the wall to end his misery," George said with a frown. "I hear they are considering transferring him to a fully human facility that has him under twenty four hour watch. The nearest one with an opening, however, is in Germany."

"And Ginny?"

"She refuses any visitors or correspondence from the family," Fred said. "She got in a fight with another prisoner over a pillow."

Harry just stared.

"So, coming to Friday night dinner? Dad is making his famous lasagna." Fred wiggled his eyebrows.

Harry perked.

"You can bring your lady friend," George said knowingly.

Harry stared.

The twins crossed their arms together.

"How did you—"

The twins shook their heads. "You missed guy's night at the Leaky. There's only a small amount of things that you'd miss guy's night for. That and Draco looked disgusted, and we all known your love life makes him nauseous."

"I'm starting to think becoming a Snape make you both more insufferable."

"Coming to dinner Friday, hrm?"

Harry's lip twitched. "Yes."

"With your lady friend?"

Harry's eyebrow twitched. "Yes."

Fred and George high-fived. "Excellent."

* * *

Every lion cub in the place promptly tackled Harry as he walked into the main savannah habitat. Harry made the low groan of a dying animal.

"Dhink you need to be— rhino or something," Viktor suggested, eyeing Harry as he walked by carrying a large bowl of salad.

The cubs turned their noses up in disgust, proceeding to chew on Harry instead.

Harry glared at the cassowary that was, somehow, carrying a basket of garlic bread on its back to the table. One dark cub was following, carrying a loaf in a tied napkin-bread-holder. "So not fair."

"Maybe you should stop pretending you're only human, hrm?" Severus said, thumping down a large pan of the most delectable smelling lasagna on Earth. Sirius trailed behind with an enormous platter of assorted appetizers, Hermione glided in with a multi-layered tray of desserts (and smacked Remus on the bill for trying to make off with the chocolate gelato), Minerva at her heels with a massive casserole dish loaded with stuffed shells. Then the Malfoys arrived; Lucius padded in carrying a large basket in his mouth loaded with bottles of wine and sparkling fruit juice, Narcissa levitated a pair of huge dishes filled with shrimp scampi and fettucine Alfredo, and Draco came in carrying an antipasto platter piled high with a wide assortment of fresh fruits, meats, cheeses and various accoutrements.

Spiderlings, half-grown spiders, and fully grown Dark Weavers scurried across the table, pulling the tablecloth tight, lighting the candles, and sorting the silverware. Alastor and Thea came in, Alastor stomping like a rhino in a china shop and Thea gliding in like a spectre. The cubs pounced on Alastor's shoes, rubbing up against him before bounding towards Thea and doing figure eights around her ankles. She carefully put down her basket of assorted biscotti and took them all into her arms and twirled them around, spiders and all. Alastor snorted softly in amusement as he set down his fragrant casserole dish of chicken Marsala.

"Hey, dad," Harry said warming. "Glad you could make it."

"I'm old, not decrepit and hard of hearing," Alastor snapped, but his expression was clearly amused.

"Still a few good years left in you, my love," Thea said with a cheeky wink. She leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss.

"Ahhhh, public displays of affection!" Fred and George cried together in mock dismay.

 _ **Fhwap!**_

Severus used the palm of his hand to smack both upside the back of the head. "Behave."

Fred and George grinned back at him. "Yes, dad."

"Or I'll sic the cubs on you."

All the cubs promptly pounced on Fred and George, knocking them to the ground.

"Or, they could do it anyway," Severus quipped.

Harry, brushing off his robes that were liberally covered in lion fur, chuckled. "Justice."

"My friends, family—the furry and the not-so-furry," Severus greeted. "I am glad you could all make it to the anniversary of the day all of our lives changed— if but for a terrible, selfish act that created a truly blessed chain of events. The day Hermione Granger became something more. They day— all of us were destined to be more, to remember who we really were."

"To the most loyal of friends," Lucius said, raising a glass.

"To meeting those we most cherish in the world," Thea said, smiling at Alastor.

"To those who saved those we cherish most in the world," Narcissa said.

"To the family found we never knew we were missing," Fred and George said, finally managing to pry themselves free of cub teeth and claws.

"To trust," Alastor said.

"To acceptance," Regulus said, putting his arm around his new wife, the former Ambrosia Flume, who was holding one of her rambunctious cubs.

"To peace, both in the world we make our home, to this school, and to our hearts," Minerva said as Kingsley wrapped his arm around her, fondly cheek-rubbing against her face.

"To new opportunities," Harry and Draco said together, bumping elbows and grinning to Fred and George.

"To family," Sirius said, smiling at Remus. "And friends we do not deserve but who love us anyway."

Hermione stood, smiling at everyone. The ghost of her sun-disc shone brightly above her head. "Let us give thanks to the Goddess, Sekhmet, for teaching us the value of true family both born and not. For blessing us with cubs that our lives be enriched for the future— and teaching us that justice is not dead and sometimes—" Hermione smiled. "Sometimes the plan has always been there. We just have to have faith, both in Her and in each other."

They all raised their glasses in salute, and the ghostly image of the lion-headed Egyptian goddess, Sekhmet, shone over Hermione. Their eyes began to glow a soft gold— a gathering of miniature suns that connected to the goddess who watched over them all.

They all placed their hands (or paws) on their Dark Weaver companions, smiling as the happy-to-please arachnids purred with shared pleasure. The cubs all put their paws up on the table, their spiderlings bouncing happily on their heads.

The cubs all screwed up their faces in concentration. A tingle spread through all of the adults' minds as the cubs struggled to be understood.

Jabari plunked a small goo-covered cub down by the table and rubbed lovingly against his mother, placing his over-sized paws on her hip as he thumped his head into her side. "Love, love, together forever!" the Nundu cub cried joyfully.

Hermione grinned at him, giving him a broad grin.

"Love, love, together!" the cubs cried, their first words echoing the Nundu's happy exclamation.

Severus cracked a small smile. "I couldn't have said it any better myself."

The Nundu cub gave a feline grin, full of sharp feline teeth.

Hermione burst into tears, sniffling. "I love you all so much."

The goo-covered cub tried to sneak away, but Severus plucked him off the ground and gave him the eye. "Even this one?" he said with a sniff.

The cub mrowled unhappily under the scrutiny.

Hermione kissed her husband on the cheek. "Even Bowie." She winked at Regulus, who blushed furiously at his son's name.

Sirius belted out raucous laughter. "You're not allowed to make fun of my posters any more, brother."

"Your posters are not _**appropriate**_ for our cubs!" Regulus roared, causing the others to giggle, snicker, and otherwise gain tremendous satisfaction at Regulus and Sirius' expense.

The spiderlings covered the goo-covered mischief-seeking cub, all whipping out cleaning sponges and soap, mercilessly scrubbing him down until he was very, very floofy and clean.

The hapless Bowie's fur now stood up on end around his head, giving him an odd sort of spiked crown. The other cubs stared at him and tried to "help", making Bowie's fur into a very— well, _**Bowie**_ — look.

Hermione grinned at Severus, her smile filling her eyes and radiating outward. "I love you."

Severus pressed his forehead to hers, a low rumble in his throat. "I suppose we should give some thanks to the dunderheads that made this possible."

Hermione smiled mischievously. "I took care of it."

"My wife—"

Hermione purred.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing that you wouldn't have done."

Severus eyed his wife. "That is a _very_ long list of things you could have done."

Hermione grinned. "Isn't it, though?"

Severus pressed his lips to hers. "I love you, my beautiful she-demon. Your horns are showing."

Hermione's eyes glittered with feline mischief.

* * *

 _Far, far away, in two separate cells…_

Ronald Bilius Weasley clung to the single candle holder in his cell and screamed bloody murder as his sister did the same in the neighbouring cell.

A plump, very pink, extra fluffy spider built a large web on the frame of his cell-bunk, caught a moth, and proceeded to decapitate it and eat it— noisily.

Meanwhile, Ginevra attempted to stomp her unexpected cellmate to death only to realise the young spiderling was not only impervious to being squished but also a Dark Weaver— the most notoriously poisonous magical spider on Earth.

Her screams echoed through the prison complex along with her brother's.

Hours later, when the guards on the morning shift came to check the ward, they found brother and sister cocooned in spider silk, each with a sound-dampening gag wrapped snugly to their mouths.

No traces of the spider or spiders that constructed the webbing were ever found.

Yet every morning, the pair were found in newly crafted webbed cocoons— and the prison was strangely free of insects.

* * *

 _Fwwop!_

 _FOOP!_

Two young Dark Weavers appeared out of the Ether and landed on Hermione as she lay cuddled up against her mate. The cubs were all sleeping against her belly as the pride surrounded her. The soft, purring snores of leonine contentment filled the air.

The spiders skittered up to snuggled into Hermione's neck, giving off a spider purr of their own.

"Goodnight, Bucket!"

"Goodnight, Worrywart!"

Joke extended a long leg and drew her babies closer, all sharing the warmth of Hermione's neck as their mistress and her mate drifted slowly off to sleep.

All was right with the world once more.

* * *

 _Fin._

* * *

 **A/N:** And they all lived happily ever after!

Spiderlings: With spiders!

Joke: Ob-viously.

Jabari bounces in, slide-skidding into the fray, carrying a bright pink-potion-dripping cub.

 _Plunk_.

"Rrawr?" Bowie complained.

All the spiders rubbed the spaces between their multiple eyes with their forelegs. "We can't leave you alone for even a _minute!_ "

Bowie tries to escape and ends up tripping into a pail, ending up with the bucket over his head. "Rrrrowl!" Bowie complained, his distressed mewls echoing back at him.

Bucket, the spiderling, sighed. "Finally, I'm not the only one."

* * *

 **A/N:** That's all folks! Thanks for reading! Be sure to send almond cookies to the Dragon and the Rose and banana lollies to Dutchgirl01 and the Flyby Commander Shepard for tolerating my ADHD distra- _ **SQUIRREL!**_ School is in full swing, so my attention is very focused on so many things. Thanks for your understanding!


End file.
